


Synth Love

by LC_Rod



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24296539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LC_Rod/pseuds/LC_Rod
Summary: Elektra, a synth-playing rock troll with a strong image, heads away from Volcano Rock City to relieve a mysterious emptiness she feels inside. She eventually comes across the alluring beats of techno, and takes a plunge towards a love that will change her in more ways than one… much to her peers’ disapproval.
Relationships: King Trollex/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 77





	1. Shrinking Flame

_Once there was a rock troll named Elektra, who grew up under rock, raised by rock parents, and lived in a world of rock. And the world taught her to be tough and reckless, breaking things if she needs to, and being awesome above everything._

_But Elektra was a rather meek rock troll. In high school (of rock!) her classmates encouraged each other to do all kinds of dares that they’d laugh off at the end of the day. In a field trip, her classmates challenged her to go out into Volcano Rock City’s limits and back. Wanting to fit in, she did._

_But she startled a tynx, a beast with claws, pointy teeth, and dark yowls. The beast attacked her with its claws and retreated to the wild. Elektra was hurt, and she cried out for help, but the kids abandoned her. She was forced to get back up, and walk her way close to the city so adults could help her._

_Soon, during her recovery, Elektra received admiration for her bravery, but she rejected it, resentful that nobody helped her. This was the angriest she’s been, and chased away any visits. She was alone again, until a very special visit came by: Princess Barb._

_The princess got through to the girl by understanding her pain first, then encouraged her to live because she was a survivor who beat the odds, and wasn’t gonna let anything push her again. Elektra was grateful for the kindness._

_Soon after she healed, Elektra got her hands on a synthesizer, and began to play for the rock royalty. She played so expertly and quickly until her fingers burned, and she trained to hone decent amounts of strength. She even managed to get a collar on the tynx! And with the first minute of Baba O’Riley, head banging, breaking things, and playing all the way, Elektra became known for being one of the strongest, most skilled rock trolls in recent memory…_

Elektra cut the final string on the embroidery of her life story thus far. With a deep sigh, she stood up to admire the handiwork. She stretched her upper back and neck in annoyance from kneeling down for so long. Sighing again, Elektra carefully stepped across all the scattered junk in the rest of her dressing room, kicking aside cups and leftover embroidery.

Entering the bathroom, she simply rinsed her mouth with mouthwash and applied some more shadow under her eyes. She lifted a slightly scarred right arm and whiffed her armpit. Elektra shrugged and grabbed a comb to reach up her big, spiky hair. She twirled the comb through the one small curl at the very top of her hair. Elektra patted her hair, adjusted her red jeans, and exited the bathroom. She quickly hopped across the dressing room and sprinted out, grabbing a fancy leather jacket that was haphazardly tossed next to the floor.

Elektra walked nonchalantly down the halls backstage of the main concert area. She slowly put on the jacket over her dark red tank top, rolling and stretching her shoulders and neck. On the back of the jacket was a decorated embroidery of a snarling face of a tynx, with its claws playing a keyboard. Stagehands walked past her and gave her a thumbs up, but she paid no mind. The rowdy shouts of the awaiting audience and the buildup began to penetrate her ears.

Queen Barb’s voice revered with a rock n’ roll bite as Elektra approached the stage lights. Barb had already finished her opening act, and delivered a speech to the crowd for the concert at the end of summer, celebrating another year of toughing out harsh conditions in the volcanic landscape. She was already finishing introducing the band members.

“… Well, you all know her pretty well. The keyboard warrior and beast master, let’s give it up for Elektra!”

The crowd cheered. Beneath the spotlight in front of the synthesizer set stood an aloof, somewhat smug-looking face, with half-lidded eyes that were almost as big as Barb’s. Elektra’s face sported a pair of moderate scars running down the side of her right eye and temple. Her right ear also had a small notch. 

Elektra’s eyes darted around as if expecting something. She threw her hand horns in the air. This incited even louder cheers and an excited yell from Queen Barb. It always brought a small smirk on Elektra’s face. 

“Way to go, Elektra! Let’s show ‘em!” Barb encouraged. Elektra nodded and loudly cracked her fingers so the audience could hear. The crowd quieted down, some of them wincing at the sound. She quickly adjusted her synthesizer to a sound she knew by heart. The stage lights dimmed. The rest of the band members got in position. The crowd got even quieter. After a few seconds of suspense, Barb and other guitarists began with a booming pair of chords and held a single note.

Elektra glided on her keyboard for her opening solo. She played a short, rapid sequence of notes to energize the introduction to the show. This was followed by a second of silence, and some of the crowd got the chance to let out a whistle and a whoop. Elektra continued playing another tight melody, as if merely playing with the keyboard, with the guitars and basses backing her up. After the third silence, Elektra played a proper riff, finishing the introduction to the song. Barb took it from there.

“ _WOAAA-A-AH!_ ” Barb shredded on her guitar at a rhythm, “ _WOAAAA-A-A-AAH!_ ” She topped it off with three chords. The whole band proceeded to continue playing _Let It Rock_.

Everyone, from fellow band members to the rest of the crowd, had their heads banging. Elektra’s face tightened with energy. The power of rock coursed through her veins and her muscles. She really couldn’t stop the fire burning out of control.

* * *

Until the concert ended, at least.

Elektra panted and wiped her brow. Her fingers burned from exhaustion. She high-fived her bandmates with enthusiasm, but she soon collapsed on the lounge couch. Her arm was draped over her eyes, and her bandmates’ conversations drowned out. The rock music still ringed in her ears to comfort the silent nausea she felt, but only for a short while. As the band members started to leave, Elektra lay there numb. She took her arm off her face to see Queen Barb still around.

Without missing a beat, Barb headed over to a homemade cooler and pulled out a glass bottle from the misty, dry iced box. 

“Here,” Barb walked up and gave the bottle to Elektra. “Non-carbonated, just the way you like it.”

Elektra grabbed the bottle and looked up. Barb gave her a proud, yet sympathetic nod. Elektra cleared her throat, dropped the aloof demeanor, and replied to Barb in a soft voice.

“Thank you.”

Elektra sat up with a grunt, opening the bottle to take careful, relieved sips. Her eyes darted towards Barb’s raised eyebrow and faded smile. 

She blinked.

“What?” Elektra asked quietly, but in a vaguely accusatory tone.

“You look burnt out,” Barb commented, looking to the side. She stood up to fetch another box. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m not seeing you give out your all as much here as you do onstage.” She sat next to Elektra on the couch, opening the box to reveal a pizza. “You feeling off? Sick?” Barb took a slice and offered the rest of the box. “Hungry?” She took a bite.

Elektra couldn’t resist the smell. She grabbed a slice and took a bite herself. “Nothing’s wrong with me.” She insisted with her mouth full, chewing more slowly than Barb did. “I just think I’m tired.”

“But you’ve been tired for a while now,” Barb pointed out, now starting to act concerned. “We all feel tired after all that epic energy and we all like naps. But you’ve been “tired” all week. Enough sleep? Enough food? Or… are you really, seriously bored or something?”

Elektra stared ahead. “I…” She thought for several moments. “I feel… like there’s nothing else for me to do.”

Barb munched on the pizza crust as she listened, arching a brow. “Nothing to do? Are the concerts not enough?” She asked slowly in disbelief.

“N-no- I mean, yes-” Elektra stiffened and took a deep sigh. “I wouldn’t _play_ so hard if I didn’t _like_ jamming out. My head’s in the game, I live for the moment. I’m passionate!” She balled her fist and threw a couple of punches in the air. “It’s just that… when it’s all over, I feel…” The pizza slice slipped off her hand. “Empty.”

Elektra’s last word came out dull. Barb blinked, moving herself closer and giving Elektra a look of deeper concern. 

“I feel like I’m putting up a front,” Elektra expressed earnestly. “I’m not saying I’m pretending, it’s just… after the concerts, I feel numb. After I rock out, after all of that, I don’t feel like myself.” She clutched her chest. 

Elektra shrank on her seat, picked the pizza slice again, and continued to chew on it while avoiding eye contact with Barb. Barb then got up from the couch and paced around. Elektra’s eyes darted at the queen’s direction. 

She got up from the couch herself and hung her head. “I need to clear my head,” she mumbled.

“Wait,” Barb told her.

Elektra paused and raised her brow. “Huh?”

Barb cleared her throat. “I’m gonna tell you something I haven’t told anyone else.”

Elektra’s eyes widened considerably. She inched in closer, “Oh, so you got a secret,” she teased with a genuine smirk. 

Barb laughs. “There’s Elektra!” She gestured towards her. “I know how curious you are, so I figured it’s time.”

“For what?” Elektra furrowed a brow.

“For you to go outside Volcano Rock City!” 

Elektra slowly blinked, and headed over to one of the few windows in the space. She stared off with wide eyes into the near-desert landscape of their volcanic home, right into the dark horizon. Memories sprang in her mind of the first time she was goaded into going far out.

Barb strutted over next to Elektra. “See, I’m getting access to royal files, all that deep, secret stuff for kings and queens of rock. Dad’s been forgetting where everything is, so I’ve been trying to help him.” She stood next to Elektra and followed the line of her gaze. “While I was looking, I’ve been wondering about a few things. Like…” Barb leaned in closer to the window. “What’s out there, really?”

After a long time, Elektra stepped away from the window, without averting her gaze outside. “Right,” she replied inquisitively.

“Not buying that we’re alone either, huh?” Barb commented. “Thought so. Suspicious stuff. I haven’t told anyone else about this. Congrats on being the first troll to hear it from me.” Barb clasped her hands and turned towards Elektra. “Here’s what I was thinking.” She put a hand on Elektra’s shoulder and pointed out the window again. “Starting tomorrow, you can go take your synth, go on the bike, and spread the ‘goodwill’ of rock to whatever else is out there. It’s like you’re going on a little tour of your own. You could be a… representative or something. Point is, a change in scenery and audience is gonna help you, and this could help us in the long run! Make our kingdom even bigger!”

Elektra furrowed her brow attentively, but she didn’t look at Barb in the eye.

Barb shrugged. “Or… in case that doesn’t work out somehow, maybe you can just go look for inspiration. Go out, do what you want. No pressure. But if you find anything interesting, you mind telling me? I still wanna see if there’s a chance to expand our horizons.”

Elektra let out a short hum. Barb sighed.

“I don’t really… know what’s wrong,” Barb admitted, “but maybe something new might help?”

“Something new,” Elektra mumbled out in interest. She turned her gaze towards Barb, who nodded supportively. Elektra pressed her lips together. “I… guess I… need to get away from it all. For a while.” She paused, “I think I need this. I have to find… my fire back,” she said firmly, staring at the wall. “I want to feel like myself again. Like I can take on anything again.” She drove a fist into her palm and growled in newfound determination. “I’m not scared of the unknown!”

“Yeah!” Barb exclaimed. “You’re strong and confident! You can do this! Play your music!”

“And I’ll find whoever hears back!” Elektra continued with a wicked grin. 

“Exactly!” Barb yelled back, and flashed double horns. “Rock on, girl!”

Elektra laughed and flashed double horns back. Soon Elektra couldn’t help tapping her feet in excitement at her newfound quest. 

**_GRRRRROOAAAAAAAR!!!_ **

Barb jumped out of her skin and darted around in worry, while Elektra flinched in annoyance.

“… I-I think we should call this a night for now.” Barb’s voice trembled a few moments.

“Aw, he’s just hungry,” Elektra stated fondly. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. I’ll see you tomorrow, Barb.”

“G’night.”

The two rock trolls flashed another set of horns at each other, before finally leaving the backstage lounge in opposite directions. Elektra soon left the main “concert” crater and headed back over to her apartment, one of the many sets of speakers arranged haphazardly into treehouse-like living spaces. As she got closer, she heard more growls and complaints from the neighbors in the other speakers.

Passing through the wires and cables of the surrounding homes, she approached the ladder leading to the front entrance of her home. Elektra climbed up, letting out a yawn that almost caused her to stumble, before managing to push the door. She pushed hard to open it, shoving away the junk that blocked the door’s path.

Elektra stumbled into her home with a grunt and a deep sigh. Cups, boxes, and clothes littered the floor of her room, not giving her enough room to walk comfortably. She briefly glanced decorated wall to wall in embroideries of ferocious felines snarling down at her, before moving her gaze towards the window.

There, a real feline popped up, sinking his claws onto the edges of the window. His big, bright orange-red fur was slightly washed out under the shadow of the moon, and both the shines of his black eyes and the whites of his fangs stood out. He opened his deadly jaws wide, snarling at Elektra.

“Hi, Hot Fuzz baby,” she cooed out.

Hot Fuzz responded by letting out a gravelly, impatient “maaaaow.” His blue pet collar with the golden tag spelling H.F. stood out as he started climbing into the apartment and on top of Elektra’s unkempt bed. His sensitive nose pointed towards a nearby cooler.

“I know, big guy, I got it.” Elektra maneuvered her feet across the junk towards the cooler. She unlatched the door and reached into the cooler, while Hot Fuzz “maowed” frantically. “Shut up, you act like I never feed you.” Elektra pulled out a piece of raw “meat” almost as big as her. Hot Fuzz hopped to the floor, kicking aside junk, and leaned in to reach for it. 

Elektra signaled the tynx to stop. “Hold it.” She made another gesture with her hand and held it out. “Trust paw.” Hot Fuzz willingly, but somewhat reluctantly lifted up a sheathed paw and gently tapped it against Elektra’s palm. “Good boy!” she cheered and tossed him the piece of meat. Hot Fuzz brought the meat to his jaw and paws and started gobbling it up from the floor.

Elektra scratched the tynx’s head, before heading straight to her bed. She fell splayed into the pillows in a big sigh. Just above her were a pair of big, yellow feline eyes. They glared down at her in primal rage to inspire Elektra to keep fighting and rocking hard, but recently, the eyes seemed to look more like disappointment. Elektra frowned at the eyes, and turned to her side towards the window, trying to stave off a rising headache. She rubbed her temple, stroking her hand against the scars on her face and then clutching the right side of her stomach.

“What am I now…” she whispered, before drifting off to sleep for her trip tomorrow.


	2. I Drive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy everyone! Glad to see the hype for this! Didn’t expect people to get so excited to read this! Thank you for the kudos and notes.
> 
> So after some serious consideration, I decided to publish chapter 2 in this manner, mostly so I have something to show for. It was gonna go longer so as to not kill the pacing, but as of now, I decided I’m gonna try a different transition for the beginning of chapter 3, in which our popular second lead will be getting some focus.
> 
> I... mistakenly put in a Major Character Death tag there early on. 😬 Don’t worry guys, this is lighthearted for the most part...

The next morning, Elektra got up unusually early. She twitched under the sheets and tried to ignore the daylight, but she reluctantly pulled her body up from the pillow. She let out a wide yawn, sluggishly rubbed her eyes, and untangled herself from the sheets to head for the bathroom. The sooner she was finished with her morning routine the better. 

Under the spray of the shower head, Elektra washed off all the grime and sweat from her body and cleaned the smudged makeup off her face. When she got to her abdomen, she hesitated for a minute. With a mild wince, she carefully and gently lathered the area. With a sigh, she stepped out of the shower and shook her hair dry, quickly brushing it and reapplying her makeup. 

Back in her room, Elektra dug around the piles of clothing to find her usual getup. After her clothes came on, she zipped up a modest gray hoodie. From the pile, she pulled out her backpack, shaking off the remains of cheese snacks still inside. She zoomed to her small kitchen, serving herself a cup of juice before throwing as many sandwich containers she could into her backpack. 

Elektra rushed out of her apartment, sliding down the ladder. The neighborhood was quiet as most rock trolls were still asleep, but those few that were awake sluggishly shot horns at her as she ran by. 

“Queen Barb’s looking for you,” one shouted.

“Thanks!” she shouted back. “Or I got up early for nothing,” she muttered.

Elektra headed to the direction of the tour vehicle station near the volcano. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, then walked over to peek in at the big “garage.” Living angler buses and bug bikes lined up the area, almost all still asleep. A few mechanic rock trolls were feeding the creatures and giving them checkups. On the far-off end were a group of teenage boys practicing their rock instruments, forming a “garage band” that still tried to hone the skills of adult rockers.

Elektra spotted a waving hand from the corner of where her own bug bike was, and she headed over to that space. Like most of the bike shells, the leather covering Elektra’s was decorated in red spots and stripes. When Elektra reached her, Barb was standing next to the bike, holding an object in her hand and carrying the synth with her other arm like a suitcase.

“You really wanna go,” she commented, shooting a thumbs up.

“Well it’s something,” Elektra added with a shrug. “How’s Cheetah?”

“I think she’s ready to go!” On cue, the creature coughed for a moment with puffs of smoke billowing out of its mouth. Elektra frowned at the sight. Barb turned back to Elektra in uncertainty. “Uh, scratch that. I don’t know.”

Elektra tightened her lips, and reached out to pat the creature, before hopping on top of it. She pulled on the antennae throttles. The creature revved up and growled loudly, wings and legs stretching out. 

“Nothing looks wrong?” Elektra mostly tried to reassure herself. She patted Cheetah’s shell again. “Maybe it just needs to go out?”

Barb pouted. “Ooookay. Still not feeling sure but… okay.” Barb brought the synth over to Elektra, and the two moved to strap it onto the bike. They pulled on the straps to secure it behind the driver’s “seat.” Barb wiped sweat off her brow when the two were finished rigging. “And there. Now you can take it out to play it.”

Elektra nodded, but before she could get back on the seat, Barb tapped her shoulder. She showed her what looked like a compass.

“I haven’t found the map yet,” she explained. “So this is the best we can do right now. You’re gonna wanna go north or west, cuz a while back we saw there was more land there. The other two directions are a bunch of water.”

Elektra took the compass that Barb offered and looked at it. It was loosely held together by leather and the glass was slightly cracked, but it was otherwise functional. She quickly found that the compass could magnetically attach itself to Cheeta’s horn, so Elektra could still operate the throttles with both hands.

“Another thing,” Barb added, “I still don’t know about your bike. Maybe don’t go way too far for now? If you get stuck and you’re not back by… 1 AM, we’re gonna go out and find you. Just stay in one place and  _ really _ play that synth. Okay?”

“Okay.” Elektra smiled. “You’re really committed to safety here.”

Barb laughed. “Come on, would I live with myself if something happened to you out there?” She reflected. “Let’s be real. Good queens… good  _ friends _ don’t let each other get lost.”

Elektra smiled warmly. “Thank you. I’ll be okay.” She shot Barb a pair of horns.

Barb gestured horns right back. “Yeah! Remember: rock on!!” She shouted.

Elektra adjusted her backpack and revved up the big bike again. “Wooooooooooo!” The bike roared loudly back to life and started flying off the ground. With a turn of the antennae throttles, the bike bolted flying out of the garage, Elektra hollering all the way. The garage band watched in awe, but none of the mechanics batted an eye. Barb watched proudly as Elektra finally rode off.

* * *

A single bug bike flew over the desert land. Elektra rode through the landscape of Volcano Rock City, watching all the hills pass by through the morning sun. She felt the hot wind brush through her head. A song appeared on her mind, about getting away from a confined space to keep from going mad. “ _ Get off the isle… get off the isle… _ ” she hummed to herself, picturing all the backing instruments in her head.

Elektra looked down and grinned in surprise at seeing Hot Fuzz speeding along the ground, trying to keep up with her. “Hey!!” she cried out, lowering herself so the feline could see her. “Buddy!! I’ll be back!! It’s okay!! Don’t tire out!!”

The feline continued to run after the bug bike for a couple of more kilometers, before slowing down and giving up. Elektra looked back at Hot Fuzz panting and watching her zoom away. Once he was too small to see, he turned around and ran back to his hideout in the City. 

Elektra glanced down at the compass. The needle pointed at the north dial, so all she had to do was continue to ride forward. “ _… lifesaver when I’m screaming danger…?_ ” she continued to hum to herself. Her eyes darted over the horizon in the wilderness of Volcano Rock. She was riding at a good speed, but she didn’t see any changes in the land. Elektra sighed. 

“This world is big,” she commented flatly.

The bug continued to fly over the wild land. Elektra almost fell asleep behind the throttle when she looked over the horizon again. She almost fell off her seat. The rocky hills were diminishing and there were clearly divisions of land going forward. Mouth hanging agape, she went faster to get closer. The bug bike hummed at the extra effort, and let out a ragged cough. With a gasp, Elektra quickly reduced the speed, keeping her eyes trailed on the new land.

As the new territory got closer, Elektra slowed the bug bike down and lowered the altitude. She squinted. She began to see miles of… green. Her eyes widened. She rarely saw enough colors in her homeland. Over the green horizon, she saw glimpses of trees and mountains, both things she’d only ever hear about in passing. Elektra smiled in excitement.

Eventually, she made her descent. Elektra was almost distracted by her surroundings, but Cheetah made sure to help when they were about to run into an obstacle. She zoomed slowly past the bushes and the approaching tree trunks, until she finally reached what appeared to be a clearing. Elektra took in the sight. 

“The grass is always greener,” she expressed. 

Cheetah finally fluttered to a stop in a spot in the clearing. Elektra observed the sunlight shining down from the taller plants. She got off the bike, and her feet touched the green felt underneath her. Much softer than the rocky, hard ground of Volcano Rock. Elektra reached out to touch one of the plants, but pulled her hand back. Too reckless. 

Elektra turned back at the bug bike after a moment of taking in her surroundings. She started loosening the straps on the bug that carried her synth, sliding her backpack off and placing it on the ground. She turned back into the clearing.

“Uh…” Elektra began to announce in a slightly raspy tone, “I know the chances of… anyone being out here, at the borders, are not that big… but whoever’s out there, I… offer you a  _ taste _ , of what we trolls have in Volcano Rock City.” Elektra coughed. Her voice couldn’t reach the gravely level that Barb and several other rock trolls could. Very… soft, and pretty high. She could hardly growl, even. “You are gonna love it!” She flashed her horns at no one.

Elektra carried the synth closer to the center of the clearing, and unfolded the legs from it, carefully setting them to a stable position. She took a breath, adjusting the knobs and buttons on the synth. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. “No guitar, though…” Elektra frowned and took another look around, standing there still with half-lidded eyes. She turned back and adjusted the buttons, then finally put her fingers in the keys.

She played a long pair of high-pitched, special effect whistling sounds, and then she pressed a button for the simulated tempo. She tried her best to use the synth to imitate the sounds of both the bass and the electric guitar as she sung the opening vocals herself. Her addition added dramatic flair to the song.

“ _ Another suburban family morning; grandmother screaming at the wall… _ ” imitating the guitar sounds as much as she could, Elektra got into the zone and sang passionately. The song vaguely reflected how the weariness of life and its predictability have driven someone insane. 

Two thirds into the song, Elektra darted her eyes uncomfortably when the realization of her recent song choices hit her. She looked back to the direction which she came from, even though the volcano was long out of sight. “ _ Many miles away, many miles away… _ ”

Elektra slowly wrapped up the song. She took the opportunity to look around for any movement or just some feedback. Nothing. She pouted and kicked the ground lightly. 

“We work so hard to put on a show and no one listens. Should’ve expected it.” She took a deep sigh. “Okay.” She stretched her shoulders and got back into the synth. “Let’s start another one.”

This time, Elektra played something more familiar to her instrument. She played a bombastic, triumphant, and almost downright sappy tune. She knew quite several rock trolls who have gotten sick to death of this particular one, but as long as it’s new to any possible stranger, she didn’t mind one more overuse.

“ _ I get up! And nothing gets me down! You got it tough—! _ ”

Her playing was a little drowned out by the true vastness of the wilderness around her. Her voice and her synth only echoed away. Small birds flew over above, ignoring her singing.

* * *

Before Elektra knew it, it was already late afternoon.

Elektra lay collapsed in front of the synth. One hand played flat, passionless tones on the keyboard, barely keeping her from falling to the ground completely. The other held the remains of a sandwich. She brought the final piece to her mouth and chewed sluggishly. Elektra wore a long, exhausted, bitter frown.

Her eyes opened wide enough to find all the containers littered around her empty. She stopped playing, and her hand balled into a fist. In lieu of growling, she hissed in frustration. She used up her remaining burst of energy to grab her synth, violently folding its legs down again and storming off into the bug bike. She grumbled as she hurriedly strapped the synth tightly back into the bike. She angrily picked up all the containers and shoved back into the backpack. 

“Dammit… damn… it!” Elektra loudly moaned in pain when she stretched out her sore back and arms. After she struggled putting on her backpack, she pulled on her hair and stomped around childishly. “Aaargghhh!” Elektra yelled, kicking around and beginning to pull on the bushes. “Whole day wasted! Should’ve gone further, but I just stood around here for nothing like a lazy—” 

Elektra kicked what she thought was a tree bark that suspiciously wasn’t there before. It began to move. Her eyes were as wide as dinner platters. Elektra soon came face to face with some kind of ugly, sock-like, lizard-snake creature. It hissed at her. She gulped.

“Oh boy, of course,” she whispered in a low tone. She tried to back off slowly, only for the sock reptile to lunge at her. Elektra dove to the side with a yelp, so the beast crashed into some of the bushes. Elektra fearfully scrambled right back towards Cheetah and desperately pulled on the throttles.

“N-no, this is not happening again!” She cried out in terror. The bug bike roared as the reptile got back up and tried to lunge again. Elektra kept pulling with a desperate grunt, hitting the bug bike into full throttle straight into the forest. Elektra speeded forward with the lizard in pursuit, dodging bushes and plants and plants. Elektra rode through the woods at full speed and no longer cared where she was really going.

Elektra beat herself up inside. “I’m not scared, I’m not scared, I’m not scared, I’m a strong troll,” she repeated to herself in a wavering voice. “But  _ God _ , I don’t wanna die.” She looked back to find the lizard still in pursuit. She gritted her teeth, and let out a hiss right back. “ _ Go away! _ ” she screeched. 

She turned back in horror to see they were about to collide with a tall plant. “ _ Aaagh _ !” Elektra pulled the bike into an abrupt aerial maneuver around the plant through the leaves. The lizard ended up slamming into the plant instead. Elektra unwisely looked back again and laughed in mocking relief. “Right in your face!”

She was jolted out of her triumph by Cheetah passing right through clusters of leaves and twigs. “ _ Ughh _ !” With twigs and leaves still stuck to them, the two soon emerge at full speed, at a… desert landscape… with a massive body of water in it. Elektra glanced at the compass, realizing they were headed East into the ocean.

“Oh no, come on,” Elektra uttered alarmingly. She pulled on the throttles and tried to turn around, but that’s when the bike started coughing and spewing smoke from its mouth. Elektra gasped loudly. Cheetah was swaying, barreling further into the ocean out of control. The throttles made it spin, unable to turn around properly, and its shell heating up underneath Elektra. The coast started to disappear from view.

“No, no, no,  _ no _ !” Elektra panicked. The bike spun towards the ocean, and Elektra winced for impact. The two crashed into the surface of the ocean at full speed. Elektra and Cheetah were skidding over the surface like a skipping stone, jolting them and throwing them around violently. Elektra held onto one of the throttles for dear life while the surface of the water battered them both and threw them further into the vast water.

Finally, Elektra couldn’t take any more of the watery abuse. She kept her eyes shut tight even when she felt the beating slow down. After some whimpering and panting, Elektra went slack on top of the bike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used:
> 
> Island, by Coheed and Cambria  
> Synchronicity II, by The Police  
> Jump, by Van Halen


	3. Submerged Strobe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. This chapter was unusually long and important, and I didn’t wanna make any serious mistakes.
> 
> I hope you guys don’t mind some of the... obvious violations of the laws of physics here. Let’s just say the ocean water in this universe is not like our water. I know, I’m kinda confused too.

To the inhabitants of the ocean, it was an important day. Throughout the day, the ocean was absolutely coated in mechanical sounds and beats in a grand day-long celebration. That day was the day of the techno prince’s official coronation.

To date, this was the busiest day of King Trollex’s life. To him, it was a non-stop day of music and raves, celebrating everything from the history of their tribe, to the rhythm of their hearts, and to his official coronation, promising another triumphant electronic reign after his mother. Late in the afternoon, Trollex casually lounged at the top of a high reef to watch the sunset over the waves. One hand supported his head, and the other tossed Techno Beat Drop Button up and down. The button fish almost touched the edge of the surface.

Trollex gently mumbled a tune under his breath with a warm smile on his face. “ _ Ohhhh, sometimes, I get a good feeling… yeah. _ ” His tail fluttered a bit. While the official ceremonies have been concluded for the day, he still had something planned for late at night.

“H-hey! King Trollex!” Beat called out to him as he was being tossed.

Trollex caught the little fish one last time. “What’s up, buddy?” He asked happily.

“When’s the new party started? I’m done with my break!” Beat started swimming around Trollex. Trollex stretched his arms and laughed a bit.

“Still a while. It’s a midnight encore! Gotta show how committed I am. Plus,” Trollex got up and descended from the tall reef, “I’m gonna need lights now more than ever. Hope the equipment isn’t too tired out for this.”

“Ohhhh,” Beat swam next to him. “Does this mean Queen Nautila isn’t coming?”

Trollex looked at the fish a little somberly. “All those flashing lights are gonna hurt mom.” The two swam forward through other reefs, passing by other schools of small fish. “She trained me pretty hard for this. Tonight, I really gotta set off a huge vibe, and I got something in mind.” Trollex and Beat started dashing through the water in small bursts to go faster.

When the two finally got close to the main coral stage, several other techno trolls reviewed the surroundings. They carried thin rods to carefully repair the macrame surface of the reef’s flora and its circuits underneath. The working trolls then attached the rods deep into the coral, and rapidly rubbed their hands together until their fiber-optic hair emitted a few sparks. They brought their hair onto the rods to emit an electric shock. The techno trolls and the other fish’s bioluminescent energy powered up entire areas of the coral, following Trollex’s instructions to make everything brighter and flashier.

Trollex smiled proudly at the sight. One of the techno trolls turned to see their newly-crowned leader. “King Trollex!” they exclaimed. All the other techno trolls turned and excitedly greeted their new king. He grinned excitedly, especially as a few techno trolls dashed forward to give compliments and receive high-fives from him. Trollex suppressed a scoff when he overheard a couple of techno trolls squealing that they’ll never clean their hands again.

“Everybody ready for the encore tonight!” He asked out loud.

“Yeah!!” They all responded.

Trollex and Beat dashed over to the DJ booth under the heart-shaped coral. “We’re still gonna start the show in a few hours, but I wanna say I’m glad for you all’s help in making this possible. I’m very proud of your work, and I’m looking forward to the show tonight. Now I don’t wanna repeat myself, but I still promise, from the bottom of my heart,” he pointed to his pixelated heart, “that I’m gonna be a great leader to you all.”

“Go, King Trollex!” One techno troll called out, and the others cheered in response. 

“Ha, ha!” Trollex cheered on right back as he put on his headphones, “let’s save it for tonight, everyone.” Beat went and attached himself to the living DJ booth, and Trollex leaned down to perform a sound check. He started playing a looping beat at a low volume, then tested the controls and sound effects. “In the meantime we can vibe just a little bit here.”

The trolls went back into their work, this time making sure the coral’s lights and effects worked at Trollex’s command. With his directions and sounds of the DJ booth, Trollex helped keep everything in sync. Because of how taxing performance will be, he allowed himself to relax and talk casually with a few trolls who came to ask questions. Eventually, more techno trolls started to make their way to the underwater stage. A lot of them had already made their places into the coral stage ahead of time, listening calmly to Trollex’s demo tunes. Trollex himself could feel the vibes already. 

Further away, a techno troll couple swam under the surface of the water on their way to the techno stage. The two green techno trolls both held hands, admiring the seashells they collected a short while ago.

“Oh, we’re gonna be late now,” the male complained lightly.

“Well, even if we miss part of the new show, we still had time to congratulate the new king,” the female reassured.

They both smiled at each other, but then their ear-fins flicked and they froze in their tracks. They looked up to find something moving rapidly across the surface of the water and creating ripples. The two trolls instinctively dove down deeper into the water in fright, dropping their seashells.

“Was that a bird?” the female asked in fright.

“No, wait.” The male saw something float down. He reached out to catch the object in his hands. They both stared at the small object perplexedly, and looked to the direction where the bigger object went. 

The couple looked at each other in worry, then dashed towards Techno Reef as fast as they could.

Elektra’s whole body was sore by the time she woke up. She groaned in pain every time she tried to move, lying collapsed on top of the critterbike. Talk about a road accident. Elektra hoped she’d fainted, rather than get a concussion or a couple of broken bones.

Her eyes fluttered open, and for a few moments, she thought they were still closed. She weakly lifted her head, finding everything overwhelmingly dark. Over the course of the evening, the sky became overcast, hiding most of the light from the moon and the stars. Her eyes adjusted to what little source of light there was, from the faint light of the sky to the blurred lights coming from… beneath the ocean.

Elektra blinked and stared ahead, dazed at her surroundings and the water around her. Slowly, her mind started clearing up. She was… in the middle of nowhere. Floating on the ocean. Elektra took a ragged breath and rubbed her arm. She forced herself into a sitting position. She kept staring blankly ahead for a few moments as she contemplated the gravity of her situation. Everything happened so fast, until she suddenly didn’t know what to do. She was so far from home.

“Cheetah…?” Elektra uttered, pulling gently on the throttles. The bike replied with weak grumbles, its lips under the water forming bubbles. Elektra sighed in relief that Cheetah wasn’t dead, though clearly in no condition to ride right now. Elektra sighed and looked back. She saw that her synth was still there in one piece, but some of the straps got loose. 

“We need to get to shore, I’ll have to pull you,” Elektra uttered, reaching down to touch the bike’s horn. 

She let out a horrified gasp. “ _ Where is it _ .” Elektra’s voice dropped into a fearful monotone. She desperately tapped all over the bike’s shell. She reached down into her backpack and her hoodie’s pockets in futility. She brought her hands to her face and breathed rapidly.

“The compass is gone,” she whimpered in despair. Dozens of terrifying thoughts popped into her mind. “I can’t go to shore because  _ I don’t know where the shore is _ because  _ I don’t have my compass _ , and the trolls can’t find me  _ because I’m in the ocean _ —” Elektra felt a sob escaping her. She covered her mouth, looking confused at her tightening throat and the prick of tears in her eyes. A  _ hardened rock troll _ is  _ crying _ ? Elektra blinked. She shut her eyes tightly as a couple of tears spilled out, and breathed more heavily than before. Then she let out a raging yell.

“ _ ARRRGH!!! _ ” 

She pulled at her hair again and almost stomped on Cheetah. “STUPID!” She slapped her forehead hard. Finding nothing to break apart in the midst of her rampage, she dropped down into the water and thrashed around in it. “ARRGH, I’M  _ SCREWED! _ ” She screamed out while she punched and splashed the surface, “I. DID.  _ EVERYTHING _ . WRONG! BARB WENT SO FAR FOR ME, AND I STILL SCREWED UP! AND NOW,” her desperate voice got quieter and she stopped thrashing. She panted and looked up at the dark sky.

“I’m gonna die… out here…!” She whimpered. Elektra’s rage died down as soon as it started. She truly didn’t have a bite in her anymore. “Some troll I turned out to be.” She leaned her head against Cheetah’s side and continued to breathe heavily, desperately holding back sobs. Her body sank lower into the water while she cried.

That was when she felt vibrations from the tips of her toes. Elektra’s eyes opened wide, as if an ‘on’ switch was pressed. Elektra sniffed, then focused on the faint sounds coming from beneath her. 

She gasped at the unmistakable sound of music. 

Elektra gaped as she listened closely to a gentle, ethereal, yet “artificial” melody. It reminded her of the comforting sounds of her synth, when she played by herself. Elektra looked down slack-jawed. The lights coming from the ocean underneath her feet got brighter, shining to the tempo. She couldn’t stop staring at the pulsating lights shining in bright colors that she’s only seen in pyrotechnics. 

The trance-like melody dropped an octave, then kept rising to a slow, more suspenseful, buzzing crescendo, introducing a harmony. The colorful lights followed suit with this change, dropping into slightly darker shades of indigo, purple, and red. Elektra slowly, carefully maneuvered herself so that she floated vertically, staring out at the sky. When she dipped her ears beneath the surface, she didn’t see darkness any more. 

She could feel the pure electric melody all over her nerves, including the sudden “windy” sounds. Without even looking at the lights in the water, Elektra saw colorful, pulsating wavelengths like a pixelated aurora in the night sky. The crescendo came to head, followed by an increase in tempo, and the melody slightly changed. 

The song introduced a beat, and the pulsating lights from underwater and her own vision glowed brighter with each beat. Now Elektra’s heart almost matched the tempo of the incredible synthetic drums, buzzing through her body and creating stronger vibrations in the water. Elektra lay there as the music continued its pleasant, consistent rhythm, the melody becoming harder and faster in its electronic essence. 

She felt like moving her body while the imaginary wavelength danced and buzzed above her. Her hands splashed the water with each beat. Her fingers wiggled, as if playing the music herself. The lights that she imagined almost looked like they were forming shapes, moving both organically and artificially. Geometric patterns and organic, aquatic shapes moved and danced with the melody around her. Her feet started to move more quickly, splashing the water around her.

Her tears had dried up, and her bobbed with enthusiasm. Underneath the surface, Trollex’s head also bobbed at the same time.

Every techno troll was immersed in the melody. From the beginning, they all bounced in synchronization through the water, gently at first, until the song and the lights increased in intensity. Trollex happily controlled the melody and its transitions, and though he didn’t sing, the passion was felt in his fingertips, in his head, and in his heart as he pushed the right buttons.

Then he activated another button. It was time to build up the beat drop. The drums quieted down, and he intensified the melody even more for the last third of the song. He allowed the audience to feel electrified as they anticipated the incoming buildup.

On the surface, Elektra’s body began to tingle. She arched her back when waves of musical pleasure broke the surface. She was starting to feel a bigger sense of suspense from head to toe as the song continued to rise. By now, her entire abdomen, chest, and brain felt the electric musical essence coursing through completely. 

Down below, Trollex allowed the melody to quiet down, before raising a hand. He gave the audience a knowing smirk.

That’s when it happened. Trollex brought his hand down and dropped the beat, introducing a burst of bright colors that ran through the stage all the way to the surface, almost pushing Elektra onto the air. The shockwave also lightly shook Cheetah, loosening the synthesizer from her back even more. Elektra imagined colorful fireworks with each following beat, and she shuddered in pleasure. She smiled wholeheartedly, closed her eyes, and rode out the music with her body. Elektra wasn’t going to ever forget this.

The music was headed towards the true end, and the melody was dying out. Elektra floated on the surface and sighed in satisfaction. Back in the party, Trollex threw his head back and sighed as well, letting himself get caught up in the euphoria.

For several moments, Elektra forgot what was happening. The music quieted down for her to hear a shift in the water, and turned her head towards it. Cheetah wiggled in the water, and in the process, the synthesizer started slipping off. Elektra immediately jerked forward in horror.

“ _ No! _ ” The synthesizer fell onto the water just as Elektra reached out her hand. Elektra thrashed around again and dove down into the water. Elektra pushed her body downward, seeing the synthesizer quickly sink further, and struggled to reach for it. But with the blurriness of the vast ocean, synth eventually sank out of her sight and into the lights. She soon stopped her descent and stared down at the colorful abyss, whimpering in despair.

Below, Trollex smiled warmly at the cheering techno trolls, and took a bow. “We ready for some partying ‘till morning tonight?” he announced. He was met with more cheering in response.

“King Trollex!”

His earfins perked up. That didn’t sound like cheering. He quirked his unibrow, and his smirk no longer reached his eyes. A couple of worried-looking trolls dashed frantically past the crowd towards him. He leaned forward from the DJ booth in concern.

“Huh? What is it?” He asked.

The male troll came forward. “There was something on the surface, and it dropped this.” He presented Trollex the small object. Trollex narrowed his eyes, and took the object from the green troll’s hand. He held it in his own hands, looking at it curiously. Beat detached himself from the booth and looked confused.

“Huh.” Trollex looked closely at the object and rotated it. “Well, this almost looks like a compass, but…” he felt the unusual texture and craft in his hands. “Doesn’t look like any compass I’ve seen before…” he uttered.

“Look!”

Trollex looked to see a techno troll pointing to something above them. The whole crowd swam out of the way of a larger object sinking down rapidly.

“Wh- Grab it!” Trollex shouted, taking off his headphones and swimming over the booth. “Lemme see that!”

A few techno trolls came forward and caught the object before it could fall into the ocean floor. The trolls then presented it to Trollex. He furrowed his brow. He knew a keyboard when he saw one. Trollex started at the object perturbed for a few moments, then he slowly turned his head upwards. Everyone around him looked alarmed and confused, while he glared up in suspicion towards the surface.

For a few moments, Elektra wondered why she wasn’t drowning. She could actually inhale, occasionally exhaling bubbles. This meant that she could keep diving, but instead she stared down nervously. While part of her wanted to keep reach towards the lights, her body was frozen there, floating in the middle of the vastness of the ocean. Soon, even the lights died down, plunging most of the ocean into darkness. Elektra widened her eyes; whatever was down there must have reacted to what she’d dropped.

Simultaneously, Elektra and Trollex reached the same conclusion. Something else was out there, and it was smart enough to make music.

Elektra caught a glimpse of movement. She managed a gasp. Whatever they were, the blurry shapes were getting closer very quickly, “zipping” around in the water. “Crap!” She muttered. Elektra turned around and swam back to the surface, splashing around and scrambling to get on the critterbike. She clung to the bike’s side and climbed up Cheetah’s back, much to the bike’s complaints. Elektra lay on her stomach as flat as she could on top of the bike, hoping that the darkness of her own colors blended with the night sky.

Elektra’s eyes darted around and furrowed her brow. The way she lay down made it difficult to tilt her head down towards the water. She… heard something beneath her. Splashing noises, more “zipping,” Cheetah’s growls, and what almost sounded like whispering. Elektra gulped. She lifted her body from the bike just enough to allow her to look down into the water by her side.

Her heart jumped to her throat at the sight of the roundest, brightest green eyes she’d ever seen on a creature before. 

Elektra suppressed the urge to gasp, staring back at the green eyes with a single brow staring intensely right back. She could see how the eyes were peeking above the surface, along with a topknot hair with equally glowing green colors. The rest of the body was under the surface. Elektra could faintly see there were even more glowing eyes and hair underneath the water.

Her expression turned into a glare. Elektra slowly, steadily wiggled her body, watching how they reacted to her movements. She slowly reached out a hand towards her bike’s throttle, the glowing eyes now trailing said hand. Elektra abruptly pulled on the throttle, eliciting a sudden loud growl from Cheetah. Naturally, most of the glowing eyes immediately dove down back deep in the water.

“Don’t bother me,” Elektra spat smugly. The original pair of eyes, despite flinching at first, still remained trailed to her. The single brow then twisted into a scowl, and Elektra looked in confusion.

Then the rest of the body burst out of the water. Elektra nearly fell off the bike in shock. Instead of falling back into the water, the “creature” started to float, leaning closer towards Elektra at eye level. She was caught between feeling mesmerized at the glowing colors across his arms, lips, and once again eyes and hair… and being worried at what he’d do. The two glared in uncomfortable silence.

“Who are you?” Trollex questioned as firmly as he could.

Elektra squinted at the thing that was actually talking to her. “ _ What _ are you?” she spat back.

“I’m a troll,” he said.

“ _ I’m _ a troll!” she shouted back.

The two trolls were on edge, each taken aback by the other talking, but their tense glares slowly morphed more into curious interest. With more relaxed faces, the two started observing each other from a distance, soon realizing their bodies were quite troll-like. Trollex noted Elektra’s dull color palette, wilder hair, and lack of any glow. Elektra noticed Trollex’s aquatic fins and extremely bright colors. She saw how even Trollex’s mouth glowed when he opened it.

“… I  _ guess _ you’re a troll.” Trollex shrugged. “But…” he narrowed his eyes, “you don’t don’t look anything like the trolls here.” He tilted his head. “Are you telling me… you’re from the surface?” 

Elektra got into a sitting position. “Suppose that’s true,” she answered in a more casual tone. She looked back at him in silence, soon becoming highly fixated with the glowing visible heart on his chest. She furrowed her brow, staring in baffled interest how the bright heart was real, able to be seen beating from the outside. Elektra apparently stared at his chest long enough for Trollex to tilt his head down indignantly.

“Uh, my eyes are up here,” he stated bluntly.

Elektra suddenly shot up. She snorted in mortified amusement. “You’re a troll, but you’re a fish too? And you’re see-through? That’s weird.”

Trollex appeared unimpressed, while Elektra kept suppressing a smirk. Trollex crossed his arms. “You still haven’t told me who you were,” he questioned. “How’d you get here? Is that stuff we found yours?” 

Elektra furrowed her brow again. “Okay.” She took a breath. “First,” she placed a hand on her chest, “I’m Elektra. I rode my bug here,” she gestured to Cheetah, “and… yeah, that stuff is mine!” she shouted and jerked forward towards him. “Do you have them? I need them—!”

Trollex flinched at Elektra’s sudden movement. “Wait a second,” he spoke bluntly once again. “What were you doing out here? Where did you come from? Why’d you dump your stuff in the ocean?” The questions came out more quickly and accusatory than Trollex intended.

Elektra raised an annoyed brow and looked down. “I live in a volcano away from here,” she explained monotonously, but in a defensive tone. “I went to explore, I crashed here and I  _ dropped _ my stuff. I didn’t dump it,” she argued stubbornly. When she looked back up, she got a small shock. 

Trollex was now floating closer, with a sympathetic expression. “What happened to you…?” Trollex pointed slowly to his own face, just near his temple, and ran a line downwards, “right here? Are you hurt?”

Elektra copied his gesture and reached up to feel her scarred face. She suddenly widened her eyes in anger and let out a loud hiss. Trollex dashed backwards in fear, while Elektra almost looked ready to pounce. “That’s rude to talk about!” she snarled at the startled troll. “Stop asking me so much! I—” her anger once again evaporated. What  _ was _ wrong with her? 

“I’m sorry I came here,” she spoke quickly, sounding more desperate, “I’m sorry I bothered you, I shouldn’t have come here and dumped my stuff, I didn’t mean to do it, but,” her voice wavered, “I-I need that stuff to get home. I just need them back and then get to the shore and then you won’t see me again, please,” she finished with a low, quiet voice. 

Trollex’s face softened. Despite her outburst, he silently floated towards the distressed troll, and then turned to look down into the water. Some of the other techno trolls were looking at him in concern, and he drew out his hand in reassurance. Elektra looked up to see Trollex with his back turned, speaking quietly to the other trolls in the water. Elektra leaned curiously towards the surface of the water again, and the trolls beneath were reluctantly staring back at her. 

Soon, a small group of techno trolls resurfaced with a large object in their hands. Elektra gasped in shock and relief. They carried the synthesizer, along with the compass on top. 

“Okay, just bring the stuff to her,” Trollex instructed his fellow trolls. The trolls looked hesitant, but they floated towards the eager rock troll with her prized instrument. Just seeing Elektra smile and show off her slightly pointed teeth while she reached out to receive her things unnerved them. As soon as she got a good hold of the instruments, the trolls dove away back into the water.

Elektra held both of them like her life depended on it, which it did. “Ha, ha, ha!” She hurried and strapped the synth back on the bike tightly, and held the compass in her hands. “Thank you! I mean—!” She caught herself getting a bit too excited, “I mean thank you, I appreciate it,” she tried to reply in a more stoic voice.

But by then, Trollex was smirking warmly. “No problem,” he said casually. “What do you play there, exactly?” he asked in genuine curiosity. “Your music would be different, right?”

Elektra tightened her lips and put on a tiny smile. She darted her eyes around the techno trolls peeking above the water, and cleared her throat. “You wanna hear what  _ rock _ sounds like?” All the trolls looked utterly confused. “That’s okay. Rock needs a band and most importantly an electric guitar, but if you’d like I can give you a preview of what Volcano Rock City has to show.” Elektra repeated her ‘sales pitch,’ now that she had a proper audience. 

She faced her synth and loudly cracked her knuckles, causing a few techno trolls to wince. Elektra faintly heard one of the trolls whispering if she was secretly a ‘glow stick.’ Before her hands hovered over the keyboard, she instinctively looked up at Trollex. He wore a curious expression, then nodded for her to continue forward. Elektra played with the button settings again to get close to the sound she wanted. She took a breath, and then she played.

With an imitation of a drum lead, she began to play the riff for  _ Walk This Way _ . She was lucky most rock trolls had the training to memorize the speed of the lyrics without stuttering, though she thought her voice was still too soft. Still, she made sure to belt out “ _ Walk this way! _ ” the best to her ability, including the head-banging. Unbeknownst to Elektra, Trollex’s eyes widened and started to smile when he heard her singing. After a minute and a half after the chorus, she decided to cut the song off. “ _ Ah, just give me a kiss _ .” She flashed her horns.

Elektra then looked at the reception around her. Many of the techno trolls were looking around in a mixture of baffled interest, bewildered shock, and enjoyment. “Tough crowd,” she uttered to herself in jest. “Anyway, that’s the style I’m from.” She shrugged. That’s when Trollex started clapping. Elektra noticed he was looking at her with genuine awe.

“Hey, that’s pretty good!” Trollex smiled nodded towards his fellow trolls. “I mean, I’m not familiar with it, but it kinda gives me  _ Aerodynamic _ vibes. And that voice is so good!” he added with enthusiasm. “Wow, I haven’t heard a singing voice like that without auto-tune, it sounds great.” Trollex looked proudly at Elektra, who sat there frozen. 

She smirked widely and turned away from Trollex. “Thank you,” she said in an unusually quieter, whispery voice. She held the collar of her sweater and she felt her throat tighten.

“Some good synth playing too!” Trollex continued. “Didn’t know other trolls had those!”

Elektra gasped and looked at Trollex again. “You know what this is?”

Trollex nodded. “Yep, I use one to make music tracks, and I mix them up for the parties.”

Elektra gaped and went silent for a minute. “So… that music…” she blinked in awe, a sparkle appearing in her eye, “that was  _ you _ ?”

Trollex was beginning to smile even more earnestly. A few of the techno trolls stopped showing reluctance, and inched closer to the rock troll. “Yeah, I’m the DJ. My people here love  _ techno _ music. We love that vibe. See, I’m their king, Trollex.”

Elektra continued to gape in silence. She brought a hand against her head and raked her hair. “I’m in a whole new tribe,” she uttered to herself. “I found more trolls. I-I found something new! Techno music…” She looked at the troll again. “King Trollex,” she whispered, looking at him star-struck, completely changing her demeanor towards him. “Can’t believe it.”

One techno troll popped up close. “You’ve been listening this whole time?”

“What’d you like?” Another troll chimed in.

Elektra was silent. “I,” she struggled to find the words in her mouth. “I’m not sure, I-I,” Elektra took a few pauses. “I didn’t just hear it. I felt it. I feel refreshed.” Trollex got closer and listened attentively. “The… strong beat, the electric melody,” she clutched her chest, “it  _ touched _ me inside. It touched my brain and my heart, like it was embracing me. Telling me to dive, telling me to  _ dance _ , over and over. It gave me back my energy, and my spirit. I imagined lights all around me.” Elektra recalled the melody again, “I think I can still feel it, like an electric shock.” She blinked, and stayed silent before breathing deep. “My music makes me feel strong, but only for a while. But… what do you call it, techno? I think it makes me feel  _ alive _ .”

Elektra looked up again with sparkles in her eyes. Trollex’s eyes also brightened up considerably. He looked at Elektra with astounded wonder and flattery. Many of the techno trolls around him looked very happy, while he seemed lost in thought.

Elektra turned away. “I dunno if I explained myself—”

“No, no, that was… insightful,” Trollex expressed, while Elektra faced him again. “Wow… I’m glad you liked it that much!” Trollex laughed, unable to contain his glee. Elektra couldn’t help but smile right back. It felt… good. The other techno trolls murmured happily among themselves. She raised a brow in interest, finally noticing a little green button-fish among them.

Trollex cleared his throat. “We got a lot more than that, if you like!” Elektra gasped and lit up, but her smile faded just as quickly. She furrowed her brow, and she could hear a couple of concerned techno trolls, including the little fish, whispering to Trollex if it’s a good idea to just invite a “rock troll” out of nowhere. 

“What time is it?” Elektra asked worryingly.

Trollex quirked his brow at her question, on top of some of his people’s disagreements. “It’s…” his head zipped around, “about 12… 21 at midnight.”

“Hell!” Elektra yelled, causing some techno trolls to be taken aback. She looked back at Trollex more worried than before, then darted towards her compass. “I can’t come down. I have to go home, I-I need to get to shore!” 

While Trollex’ face morphed into a disappointed frown, Elektra leaped into the water, causing the techno trolls to shy away from her more. Despite her interest in techno, she was clearly not trusted. She looked at her compass, and began to push her bike to the Eastern direction. “I need to get to land by like 1!” Elektra struggled to paddle. “My-my friends are gonna come for me!”

Some of the techno trolls gasped loudly and looked to a concerned-looking Trollex. “Well, you’re not gonna get to land at that rate!” He abruptly floated right next to Elektra to help her push. 

She turned to him in surprise, given the two had avoided any close contact until then. “What are you doing?” she questioned.

“You’ll get faster if we dash.” Trollex looked at his people with determination. “Can we get volunteers to help out?” he announced to the other trolls. Elektra winced by how loud he was next to her. He turned back towards Elektra and spoke in a calmer, more gentle voice. “Can you get back up and make it move just a little bit? It’d be easier to get to shore quickly.”

Elektra kept herself frozen to her spot, looking at Trollex in puzzled astonishment. Looking closer at him, she noticed more oddities. His extremely round eyes appeared so two-dimensional, he had pixel freckles, and even his teeth looked perfectly square. He raised his unibrow and motioned Elektra to the bike with his head, nudging her up as if saying ‘what are you waiting for?’ Elektra soon caught herself, and clambered up to the top of the bike without saying another word.

She settled onto the seat, looking back to see Trollex with a group of trolls positioned to push the bike. Trollex shot her a thumbs-up. Elektra nodded, then concentrated forward. She pulled gently on the throttles, and Cheetah roared again, letting out bubbles. The bike sounded better than before, but was in no condition to fly. Elektra pulled more, coaxing the bike’s legs to paddle forward, managing to accelerate a little across the water.

Elektra felt the bike being pushed forward, with occasional bursts of speed. Trollex and the other techno trolls swam rapidly and helped the bike dash forward. “That’s it!” Trollex encouraged. “Let’s go, let’s go! Shore’s this way!” Elektra continued maintaining a speed, while the techno trolls accelerated in bursts. Elektra occasionally glanced back to see the techno trolls concentrated on getting her to shore. “Keep going!” Trollex insisted. Elektra continued to ride with them, with everyone going as fast as they could.

Trollex felt his heartbeat accelerate. He hasn’t exerted himself on anything else before. The trolls next to him were asking him if he was okay, offering to take the brunt of the bike’s weight. Each time, he breathed out that he was fine. Elektra kept glancing back at him in worry while she tried to speed up, and take the burden off of the techno trolls pushing her.

Though the sky was still too dark, Elektra could see a landscape in the distance, and land over the horizon. She gasped. “We’re almost there! King Trollex!” she shouted behind her. “Stop!”

Elektra could feel the bike slow down as the techno trolls stopped pushing, but Cheetah could still move at a very decent speed across the water. Elektra halted the bug, though, and turned it so she could look at Trollex from the side. He floated above the surface, hunched over and panting heavily, and she could see his heart seemingly beat out of control. The techno trolls that accompanied him retreated under the surface.

“I can take it from here,” she insisted. 

“H-happy to help.” Trollex’s voiced sound glitched and out of breath, but he still smiled and shot another thumbs-up.

Elektra swallowed uncomfortably. “Thank you. I mean, thank you so much,” she looked at him in sympathy as he did her, “but you didn’t have to do so much for me.”

Trollex’s smile faded. “You had to go home, right?” His gentle voice didn’t sound as glitched. “We couldn’t just leave you struggling on your own.”

Something stung in Elektra’s heart. She could feel her eyes water. She tightened her lips and took a ragged breath. “Okay,” she whispered out so quietly that no one else heard.

Trollex glanced at her in uncertainty and he rubbed his wrist. “I guess it’s goodbye now?” his voice sounded weary. “I… didn't get to show you more though.”

Elektra looked down, thinking deeply. She turned her head towards the shore, and remembered the events that led up to it. The long ride to the borders of rock, the danger of the wilderness, and Cheetah going haywire, leaving her stranded in the ocean in the first place. Elektra’s heart sped up. She then glanced down at her chest and held it with her hand. She hummed a tune taken from the song she heard earlier, her fingers wiggling as if she was playing it in her synth, allowing her heart to slow down and match Trollex’s. 

She closed her eyes. Elektra made a decision.

“I’m gonna come back,” she stated. Trollex made a small gasp. “But I need to get my bike fixed,” she continued, “It’ll take maybe a couple of days, but I’ll come back to this shore during the day.”

Trollex brightened up and put on a small smile. “I’ll bring my booth right here!” he insisted, “and I’ll play some tunes for you. Maybe we can go into the water a bit too and i can show you more of our music!”

Elektra smirked back at the techno king’s enthusiasm. “So two days, during the day, here on the shore,” her smile shrunk, “watch out for sock lizards though,” she grumbled.

Trollex chuckled. “Of course! Party safely and responsibly!” Elektra nodded, and began to turn back to the shore, Trollex shouted “wait!” Elektra turned around with a confused expression at Trollex’s sudden alarmed tone. “Um, we… haven’t met your friends.”

Elektra looked uncomfortable. “My friends are… a little, abrasive,” she admitted with a shrug, “Well,  _ I’m _ abrasive, but the point is, I don’t… know what they’d think of techno.”

Trollex put a finger to his chin. “Yeah, best to take it slow, huh?” he wondered. “In that case,” he decided, “Can you not tell them about us yet? ‘Cuz I don’t know why we live so far apart and I feel like there’s more to this than we think…” 

Elektra glowered once again, then nodded firmly. “Alright.” She had to keep this secret until they got to the bottom of it. Barb mentioned something about archives. The rock royalty knew more than it let on.

“Okay.” Trollex clasped his hands together. “We’ll figure this weird stuff out.” He smiled at Elektra again. “In the meantime…” He formed a heart-shaped gesture with the index and thumbs of both his hands.

“Hearts out.” He winked.

Elektra smiled right back, looked at her own hands, then copied Trollex’s gesture. She looked as if to say, ‘is this okay?’

Trollex nodded reassuringly. “I’ll be seeing you,” he said smoothly.

“See ya!” Elektra finally turned around. Her bike accelerated forward towards the shore, fast enough for her to let out a satisfied, loud ‘whoop!’

Trollex watched Elektra ride away. Without a glow, she could disappear into the darkness easily. He sighed. “She seems nice,” he assured to himself, as his fellow techno trolls floated to him again.

“Are we really gonna do it?” one questioned, “we don’t really know her and she still looks different.

“What  _ is _ going on?”

“There’s more ‘rock’ trolls out there?”

Trollex stopped smiling, and he turned to his people. “We’re going back and telling everyone the party’s postponed,” he announced firmly. “What we just found is a big deal. There  _ are _ more trolls out there on the surface, and they’re not like us.” He paused. “… I’m going to have to talk to my mom about this.” All the trolls nodded and turned away to swim for home. 

Trollex scowled while he swam back with the group. With how childish he felt he was starting to sound, the realization finally sank in. “I got so caught up meeting this… new friend that… I just found a way different troll,” he said to himself. “Haven’t been king for a day and… the whole world I knew isn’t what it seems.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My explanation for how Elektra can breathe underwater is the fact that the rock trolls can open the zippers to their buses and walk out in the exterior without any visible barrier. Granted, we don’t see them exiting the buses, which has led to some fans thinking they’re using some kind of invisible air dome. 
> 
> But the point is, if Dreamworks wanted us to know land trolls can’t breathe underwater, they should’ve shown us a visual cue that they needed protection. You can even see rock trolls on bikes underwater (and I’m not sure if they were supposed to be wearing like, scuba gear, lol). In the meantime, I’m gonna assume the ocean water here works more like a separate physical space as opposed to real water.
> 
> Songs used for this chapter:  
> Levels by Aviicii  
> Strobe by deadmau5  
> Walk This Way by Aerosmith


	4. Story Disk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. That was a long wait. I was having a huge roadblock with this chapter, but at least I figured it out. The dialogue with Trollex and his mom flowed so well. Hopefully I didn’t mess up while editing.
> 
> I might write an outline for the next one, since I’m not sure about the timeframe.

Elektra played miscellaneous loud notes on her synthesizer. Cheetah managed to scuttle all the way to the shore, across the beach, past the jungle, and into the very same clearing the two started out in. No sock lizards in sight. But once again, the bike tired out. Elektra couldn’t fly back home, and it would’ve taken an eternity to return to Volcano Rock City by ground.

Elektra kept playing, keeping her rapid heartbeat at bay and keeping herself attentive to her surroundings. She paid attention to all the forestry around her and gritted her teeth. “Find me,” she hissed, “before that lizard does.” Anxious by all the darkness, she almost envied the techno trolls’ natural light. She sighed deeply with a shaky breath, struggling to keep her eyes open as exhaustion almost set in. 

Elektra imagined the bright lights that danced around her. The scary plants were replaced by all those colorful lights and sounds, and the sounds or her synth were distinctly electronic. She smiled, all her worries about predators washing away. She pictured the techno trolls swimming and bouncing across those lights and shapes…

A sound abruptly put her out of her thoughts. Her heart spiked up. She stared frozen at the direction of the growling noise she just heard. With eyes wide open and a held breath, Elektra trailed her fingers above the keyboard and played a flat note. Soon after, she could hear distinctive voices, and she let her body relax. She didn’t react when a medium-sized angler bus burst out of the bushes, leaving a small trail of destruction behind. The creature skidded to a halt in front of her, red glowing eyes shining. It opened its big zipper mouth.

“Elektra!” A worried yell rang off from inside the creature. Barb ran out of the open mouth, with a few trolls following behind her. Before Elektra could react, Barb harshly grabbed the sides of her face. “Are you okay?! What happened?” 

Elektra let out a grunt as a very concerned Barb prodded her face. “It’s not me, it’s—”

“You look banged up,” Barb inspected Elektra’s body from every angle “did something else get you?” Barb frantically moved on to poke at Elektra’s arms and back for any sign of pain.

“I’m  _ okay _ ,” Elektra insisted, “it’s my bike that got messed up, I’m not hurt.”

Barb stepped back, then let out a deep, relieved sigh. She turned back to the rock trolls following her. “It’s okay, guys. She’s not hurt. Not too much anyway..

Elektra looked over to see the rock trolls standing around carrying a first aid kit. Three of them had a bottle of alcohol and gauze, an oxygen mask, and a defibrillator in each of their hands. Elektra glowered in disbelief, but turned to face Barb in confused gratitude. “… Thanks,” she managed to utter out. That got a genuine nod and a smirk from Barb.

“We’re glad you’re okay,” she stated, but turned at the sound of Cheetah hacking up a storm. She scrunched up. “But that bike doesn’t look too good,” she commented. “Go get that bike home and get her fixed, guys,” she ordered the other trolls. Elektra brought a finger up to say something, but she darted her eyes away when Barb put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on.”

Barb led Elektra inside the angler bus while the other rock trolls got to work placing the critter bike on a net for the bus to carry it away. The two were seated inside the creature, waiting for takeoff. Elektra sighed deeply in relief when she was finally given a comfortable place to sit after so long, while Barb casually patted away the remaining debris in Elektra’s hair and hoodie. 

“So what happened out there?” Barb asked, now more relaxed. 

Elektra blinked, keeping herself from dozing off. She joined her hands together. “Well…” she paused, “I came here, I played for hours. All day.” She scoffed. “Only thing that came was a sock lizard who really didn’t like me. Tough crowd.”

“Oh, damn,” Barb remarked, once again with a look of concern on her face. She glanced back towards the bus’s exit. “Can you guys hurry up?” she yelled in an urgent tone. The rock trolls from outside yelled back that they were on it.

Elektra shook her head. “That thing’s probably gone by now,” she commented in an exasperated tone. “I had to drive away from it, all the way to the ocean, and I got stuck there.” Elektra stopped. She took a deep breath and didn’t say anything else.

Barb leaned in with a frown. She felt the fabric around Elektra’s hoodie and some runny makeup. “You look a little damp, come to think of it. What happened? How’d you get back?”

Elektra took a breath through gritted teeth. “I… I pushed my bike to shore,” she simplified. Elektra didn’t mention anything about techno. “It… took me a while.” She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and sank into her seat. “I’m so tired, Barb. It’s all been a bust.” 

Barb tilted her head in sympathy. “Bummer,” she uttered while looking away. Elektra blinked slow, then watched Barb drumming her fingers with a disappointed scowl while drumming her fingers. Elektra bit her lip. 

The two heard quick footsteps approaching the bus, and they saw one troll leaning in from the creature’s door. “Okay the bike’s been tied, can we take off now?” the troll asked.

“Yeah!” Barb replied bluntly and loudly, as if it were obvious. “We’re going home right now. We’re not just gonna sit here! Move!”

Soon enough, the rock trolls gathered back inside the bus, and after a few quick nods and banter, they prepared for the final takeoff. The bus roared back to life. Everyone braced themselves when the bus immediately scuttled back to the ruined path where it came from, and then spread its wings to fly up back into Volcano Rock City. A now-unconscious Cheetah was being pulled up behind the bus in a net.

Five minutes into takeoff, many of the rock trolls have already dozed off. Barb was awake, yet unusually quiet. Elektra stared out the window, leaning against her palm. She almost thought about joining the other rock trolls in their sleep, but she turned back to Barb, wearing the same expression as before. Elektra nervously tugged on the sleeves of her hoodie. She had to mentally rehearse what she was about to ask her. With each second that she hesitated, Elektra took a breath, finally beginning with the simplest question.

“What’re you thinking about?” Elektra asked. Barb remained silent for a moment.

“I’m wondering…” Barb began. “This was just the border of our territory. Super likely you wouldn’t find anything there anyway, unless you want more animals chasing after you.” She gritted her teeth at that last part. “But then again, your bike got messed up, so… you couldn’t find anything, uh, interesting if you tried.” She held her hands up. “Not that I’m implying you didn’t—”

Elektra nodded. “Right… then…” she pressed her lips together and ceased eye contact. The next part was easier, then. “I-I wanna try again,” she blurted out. “I wanna go farther than this, yeah!” Elektra released a breath she didn’t know she held. She looked at her hands, until Barb tapped her shoulder. 

“You wanna try again?” Barb asked sincerely in a proud tone. “I mean, yeah!” she encouraged Elektra. “Today was a bust, but there’s always next time!” Barb gave Elektra an excited smile.

Elektra smirked back. “Right, uh…” she darted her eyes away again. “Actually… do you think the trolls can fix Cheetah so I can try again in two days?” She bit her knuckle, avoiding eye contact. Barb didn’t respond, so Elektra looked back to see her with a look of mild confusion.

“Why two days?” she asked in a baffled tone.

Elektra’s heart skipped a beat. Suddenly she couldn’t find the words she tried to rehearse. “I…” she could only respond.

Barb shrugged and continued, “I mean… we can try to get your bike feeling good again, but why do you need her back so soon?” She tilted her head. “You can take a break, it’s fine.” 

“No, I—” Elektra bit her lip, “I just, really, really wanna try to see what’s really out there, as soon as possible. I-I-I think I need this.” Elektra trailed off, forgetting the words once again. That last sentence spoke from her heart.

Barb furrowed her brow and her own gaze slowly drifted away in thought, without saying a word. Elektra put a hand to her forehead. She shook her head and pushed away the knots at her stomach, silently cursing at herself. 

Barb finally held up a hand and nodded in sympathy. “Okay, if it’s that important to you, we’ll get Cheetah fixed up by then. She’s gonna be better, but,” she stressed, “you gotta take care of that bug, dude! Don’t push her too far if she can’t take it.”

Elektra sighed in relief, and nodded right back. “Yeah…” She relaxed in her seat, and couldn’t help but smirk. “I guess I’m just a little excited,” she added in a casual tone. “I think I do need this.”

Barb laughed. “Yeah! Love the enthusiasm. Crummy days aren’t gonna get you down, makes things pretty easy!”

Elektra nodded, but slowly and surely, her smile faded. She sat right back up and looked at Barb. “Which things?” she asked in uncertainty, keeping herself from scowling. 

Barb’s eyes widened and she pressed her lips. She darted around to see if none of the other dozing rock trolls could hear.

“You said something last night,” Elektra probed. “You didn’t just give me permission to do what I wanted. You said something about us not being alone, spreading the ‘goodwill’ of rock, being a representative, looking for an audience. What did you want me to look for?” She tried not to sound accusatory, or that she knew more than she let on.

“Can you keep it down?” Barb whispered urgently. She leaned closer to Elektra with a near-scowl, and then nodded in resignation. “You’re right. I kinda teased you yesterday, but I did want something. I thought you’d be the best one to do it ‘cause you needed to get up and go out. And you agreed to it!” Barb paused, then leaned in closer. “You wanna know what that was?” she asked with a sly smirk.

Elektra quirked a brow.

Barb smirked. “Trolls.”

Elektra widened her eyes. Barb nodded again in response. “Lots of weird history that I gotta investigate,” Barb continued, “but I know they’re out there, and we can invite them over to our kingdom if we find them. So that’s what you’re gonna explore. A new audience is gonna regain your passion.” She patted Elektra’s shoulder proudly. “Well now you know what you’re looking for. I trust you, and I like your commitment. You’ll find your rock fire back.”

Elektra blinked, then half-smirked. “Thank you,” she responded politely with a small chuckle. “I’ll-I’ll try.” 

“Good.” Barb gave Elektra a wink, then faced away. Barb let out a loud yawn and leaned to her side. “We’ll take your bike to be fixed,” she said sluggishly, “and we’re gonna take you to your room so you can sleep. Been a rough day, so… goodnight in advance.” Having done what she needed, she dozed off like the rest of the rock trolls. 

Elektra didn’t respond, nor did she lay down. She looked deflated, staring out to the window in discomfort. She gripped the sleeves of her sweater, then briefly glanced back at Barb. “You trust me?” she whispered silently enough that Barb didn’t hear. Her eyes gazed down into the landscape. 

“Because…” she closed her eyes and let out a sigh, “I’m just doing this for me.” 

When she opened her eyes again, she pictured the techno trolls swimming, floating, flying outside the window. They were being led by Trollex, flashing his heart hands at her. Elektra allowed herself to rest.

* * *

In the ocean, a crowd of dismayed techno trolls rang out.

“Really sorry about all this, you guys.” Trollex gently brought his hands up and spoke with sympathy to the disappointed crowd. “I know I planned this to be a big night, but… as we all saw, something came up,” he explained. “So now I gotta go down and find some answers… some explanation for this… I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. I got this under control, and we’re gonna go back to sweet raving in no time.” He paused to move out, but he quickly reconsidered. “In fact we’re probably gonna show off a bit of techno to our new guest out there on the surface in two days! What do you say?”

Trollex’s reassurances easily calmed the majority of the crowd. Many of them murmured and nodded among themselves before lightly cheering their king on, though some others looked a little more skeptical. Trollex happily waved them goodnight, with many of his people following suit. 

After flashing a couple of hearts, he eventually turned away from the crowd and took Drop Beat with him. They swam a little beyond the main dance area, straight to his Royal reef home. Trollex took a deep breath, his big smile having morphed into an uncertain frown.

Approaching a few more rocks down below, they headed towards a clearing on top of a lower reef, where brightly-colored fauna thrived. At the entrance of his underwater cave home lay two large pixeels slowly flashing electric colors across their long bodies. A violet female techno troll with long, flowing red-ish hair with a few strands decorated in beads floated around and tended to the pixeels. On one hand she gripped a trident with a tip shaped like an electric plug, while the other hand gently stroked the pixeels’ bodies as they glowed in satisfaction and occasionally sparked.

Trollex smiled warmly at the sight, before looking uncertain yet again. He glanced down at Drop Beat and held the button fish close. He felt himself smaller for a few moments. Then, he cleared his throat. 

“What’s up, son?” The female asked him casually, without taking her cyan eyes off the pixeels. “Didn’t you have another party tonight?”

“Yeah,” Trollex replied sheepishly, “but I had to cancel.” His higher, slower voice contrasted the confident tone he showed while in charge. “You see, I… found something weird.” He sighed and straightened his back. “I found another troll, mom,” he stated firmly.

The female troll paused. She floated there still for several moments. Trollex crooned his head to see what his mother might be thinking, but she went and tapped the eels’ tails, prompting them to swim away in jagged patterns like on a pixel grid. His mother turned around, wearing a face of deep worry like he’d never seen in a long time. 

“Another troll?” she asked in a low, tense voice.

“Yeah, Ms. Nautila!” Drop Beat blurted out. Trollex gently shook him.

“Right…” Trollex cleared up again, and adjusted his voice to a much firmer tone. “This… different troll was on the surface, right above Techno Reef. She said she was a  _ rock _ troll, and she played music I haven’t heard before. So we were never alone down here.” He scowled at his mother. “There  _ are _ different trolls up there on the surface. So why didn’t I  _ know _ about this?” He practically demanded. 

Nautila looked back at Trollex, not shocked by his behavior. “Trollex…” She sighed and swam over to him. “I was hoping to tell you when the time was right.” She put a hand on her son’s shoulder. “About our true history.”

Trollex’s expression relaxed at his mom’s contact. He looked at her inquisitively, like he was a kid again. “Our true history?” he asked in a quiet, though still firm voice.

Nautila removed her hand and adjusted her glowstick necklace. “Let’s go look at the archives,” she stated in a blunt, resigned tone as the two went towards their home cave, with the booth fish following behind. When the two went inside, Nautila set the trident against the cave entrance and turned to her son. “I didn’t think I’d need to tell you about this until you ruled for… like a month.” Her tone started sounding less tense and more casual once again. “It had to happen the exact same day, huh?” she joked.

Trollex scoffed. “Yeah, bad luck.” He looked at Nautila with a smile, before the two darted towards the deeper parts of the caves, where the secret royal library was. Trollex had only ever been there a handful of times. As they swam in the deeper crevasses, Nautila turned to Trollex.

“Who exactly was this other troll?” She nudged Trollex. Though her tone was serious, to Trollex it almost sounded like she wanted to learn who Trollex’s new classmate was. “You said she was a  _ rock _ troll. What was she like?”

“Well,” Trollex began quietly, “she looked a little… dark and with not a lot of color. She didn’t have any fins either.” Trollex gestured to his body and face, trying to describe something he didn’t understand with as much tact as he could. “Her hair was kinda spiky, her eyes looked… wild. E-everything about her looked ‘wild.’ The music she played sounded ‘wild’ too.” Trollex paused, having a hard time describing.

Nautila nodded. “That sounds like a rock troll,” she remarked dryly. The two made their way to the entrance of their library. Nautila parted some algae curtains to reveal a room full of rows of nautical-themed servers containing programs and files for the DJ’s mixes, cabinets, shelves of floppy disk boxes, and a mighty computer in the middle. 

“Get this, mom,” Trollex continued while the three swam past the servers being tended to by tiny fish, “This rock troll knew how to play the synth, like me! Well, yeah, it looked different—”

Nautila slowed down briefly. “A synth?” She quirked her brow and smirked. “Wow, I don’t remember reading about that.” She and Trollex approached the shelves and the grand computer, shaped like a big clamshell. “Rock trolls showed off with their guitars. Think  _ Aerodynamic  _ but slower and…” she scrunched her lips, “wilder, like you said.” Nautila searched through the shelves. “And… her attitude?”

Trollex glanced at Drop Beat. “Well… she’s actually pretty nice.”

Nautila paused again. “ _ Really? _ ” she exclaimed. 

Trollex‘s smile dropped. “You say it like that’s rare, mom.”

She laughed. “Rock trolls are rude, gruff,” she explained, “they like feeling strong and they lash out at anything. They’re uh… they’re not very tolerant.” Nautila finally pulled away from the shelf, dragging out a black box.

Trollex darted his eyes away. “I don’t know… she seemed nice,” he mumbled a bit. “She was tense, and  _ hissed _ at me when I met her, but that’s ‘cuz she was scared and lost. She’s got these big eyes, she plays that synth pretty good, and she has such a soft voice!” He gestured excitedly. “I haven’t heard a voice like that in my life!” 

Trollex turned to his mother again and found her staring down at him in an intense, half-lidded expression, with her fingers on her chin and a box on the other. Trollex’s earfins drooped down. “W-what?” he squeaked.

Nautila exploded into laughter while clutching the box. “Ah, ha, ha, nothing, son!” she said in between giggles.

Trollex glanced in worried confusion at Beat Drop. He reached out to his mother with puppy-dog eyes. “W-what, you don’t believe me?”

“Oh, it’s,” she cleared her throat and straightened up, “it’s not that. Not really. Just sounds like you already like her.”

Trollex nodded. “Yeah, I…” he adjusted his voice, “I wanna get to know her more. She likes techno, and she told me she wanted to hear more. So…” he extended his arms with a smile. “What’s an invitation to a party?”

Nautila had calmed down and regained her composure. “Well, Trollex…” her tone turned serious. She slowly reached into the box and pulled out a floppy disk. “History is a little complicated.” 

Trollex looked curiously at the disk’s exterior. The sticker was colored entirely black, save for six separate vertical lines of color; blue, purple, yellow, orange, red, and pink. Nautila went on to insert the disk onto the mighty computer, and turned the machine on. Both of them swam back and stared at the screen as the computer booted up. After a few buzzing noises, the computer emitted sounds that, to Trollex, sounded like the opening of  _ Robots _ by the electronic music pioneers of their past. 

The screen flashed to life for several moments and gently continued the music. Trollex nervously looked at the flashing screen and back to his mom, feeling relief when he found her with her gaze averted. He looked back at the colorful screen, finding the music stopped for a moment. A text-to-speech program spelled out the pixelated words that flashed on screen.

_ THE SIX STRINGS OF MUSIC _

Trollex gasped. “Mom, you told me about our string.”

“Yeah.” She replied, still averting her gaze.

“So there’s more of ‘em?” he asked in amazement. Before she could answer, an animation played before Trollex eyes. 

He saw simplistic pixelated characters and environments interacting against a dark backdrop, with the music playing the tune of the similarly old  _ Computer Love _ . The lyrics were replaced by the on-screen text narrating the story; how there were far more trolls living on the surface, sharing their different music alongside techno, and how all the tribes created the six strings that defined everyone’s music. 

Trollex lit up at the mention of the blue string of techno, and a red string of rock, complete with sampled sounds. The little pixelated rock troll matched Elektra’s appearance, only somehow angrier. “They were having fun,” he commented, awestruck. 

“Not for long,” Nautila replied.

Then came the separation. One tribe, the pop trolls, had taken all the strings and changed all music to pop against the other tribes’ wishes. All the other leaders went after the pop trolls, watching as they changed everything to pop music, and tried to do something about it. Trollex’s eyes widened when the robotic text-to-speech dialogue mentioned something.

_ Even as they disapproved of their actions, our techno ancestors nevertheless felt sympathy for the pop trolls. _

_ They saw how hard they worked towards a vibe, jamming out, and bringing happiness to their own kind. They were enamored by the colors and the joyful beats. _

The story went on to mention how all the leaders snatched their respective strings, permanently separating them from the lyre where they were once held. Soon after, the other leaders made the difficult decision to go their separate ways to prevent the strings from being misused ever again. There was more to it than that. 

_ The pop trolls pleaded with them not to go. Four tribes had already fled. Only techno and rock remained. _

_ When techno tried to come forward and assure the pop trolls what they understood even though they were wrong, rock had roared. _

_ Go back to the depths where you came from, they told us. They warned us the consequences of ever getting into contact with any of these leaders again. They thought we’d go down the path of pop, and take their string too. _

_ We never came back to the surface. All we have now is techno. _

The animation ended with the techno leader and the rest of their people splashing down to the ocean, leaving an array of pixelated bubbles behind. It was topped off with a beating pixel heart appearing inside one of the bubbles, before the screen finally shut off.

Trollex stared numbly at the screen. His face morphed into a dejected, concerned expression, his earfins drooped almost all the way down. Beat exclaimed “woah” right next to him. Trollex briefly looked down and sighed. He glanced back his mom making her way to the computer to remove the floppy disk.

“We were never in harmony again,” Nautila concluded bitterly. “And now…” she continued in a very low tone as she reinserted the disk back into the box, “we don’t know what they’ll do to us.”

Trollex furrowed his brow. “Who?” he asked firmly. 

“All these trolls from the surface!” she exclaimed. “Pop stole from us, and when we showed mercy, rock threatened us. Those tribes were intolerant, so we had to stay in the ocean.” She sighed. “I’m going to be honest with you, son. This troll you met does sound nice, but the thing is… I don’t trust the rock trolls.” Now her own fins dropped down.

Trollex scrunched his lip. The two techno trolls were in silence for a few moments. Trollex took a deep breath. “Then what do I need to do?” he asked quietly. “This happened a long time ago. Maybe things changed now, and rock trolls aren’t who you think they are.  _ She _ isn’t like this. We’re gonna see her again at the shore in two days, and maybe we can be friends.” Trollex briefly saw his mother twitch. “I promise you, I won’t let anything bad happen to us or the string,” he stated, attempting to send determined.

Nautila simply floated in silence. Drop Beat occasionally looked back and forth between the two royals. Finally, Nautila turned to him very softly. She approached her son, and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Trollex.” She addressed him like he just turned 18. “You’re a king. I can’t tell you what to do anymore.  _ You _ make the decisions from now on. I’m sorry that all this responsibility has to fall on you now, especially in just a day, but you do what you think is right. I  _ hope _ you befriend this troll, and I  _ hope _ I’m just being paranoid.” She smiled at him. “I’m so proud of you.”

Trollex looked at her with starry eyes. He leaned in for a hug, which she gladly returned. “Thank you,” he told her. He smiled warmly at his mother’s comfort, until his eyes darted towards the black box. 

His earfins drooped again.

* * *

Elektra didn’t find her fire. 

Rather, she found water.

Barb dropped Elektra off right at the window of her apartment so she wouldn’t have to climb the ladder. They returned her synth, before carrying Cheetah back to the garage for maintenance. Barb and Elektra only managed to wave goodnight from the window, before Elektra fell onto the bed.

With her absence, Hot Fuzz broke into the cooler himself. She didn’t pay any mind to his full belly and his lazy snoring. She was out cold in minutes.

For the first time in years, her room felt too dark. She dreamed of light. She dreamed of techno. 

Instead of feline eyes staring down at her, she saw green, round, curious eyes. She saw a bright, pink, pulsating pixel heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally planned to have a different ending, but I decided to save that bit for the next one because Elektra already had a long day.
> 
> To get a visual for techno troll history, I was inspired by a combination of older videogames, DOS computer graphics, and LED displays. Fancy technology. 
> 
> Song used for this chapter:
> 
> Computer Love 3D, by Kraftwerk


	5. We Ride Tomorrow For Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After much delay, chapter 5 is finally here!
> 
> I had some internal changes made to this fic in the months I spent not updating it, mostly in the characterization and headcanon department. So the version of this story that I’m continuing is not exactly the same as when I first wrote it. The plot remains as planned though, and I even wrote parts of the climax because I was antsy in seeing a solid concept for it written down since tying it to trolls world tour is a bit of a challenge. Things are... different from the canon film, but shhhhh.
> 
> I hope the pacing in this chapter is okay for you guys. Part of the reason it took so long is because this is kind of an unusual “worldbuilding” chapter, and we keep going back and forth on new locations. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Elektra woke up at noon the following day. 

She grumbled in annoyance, lifting her body and frizzled hair from the mattress. She sat there on the bed with half-lidded eyes, staring at nothing but her hands for nearly a full minute. Her blank gaze turned towards the midday sun. She sighed in exasperation. 

Elektra finally regained enough consciousness to notice she still wore her hoodie. She brought an arm up to her face, and recoiled wildly at the scent. She also scrunched up at the taste of her own breath. Her eyes were drawn to all the junk in her room, the scattered clothes, and the open cooler.

“Crud,” she croaked out, bringing her hands to her face and rubbing her eyes. She dragged her body out of the bed, scrambling to unzip her hoodie, and headed to the fridge. Elektra opened the fridge and she scowled in disappointment, seeing that she ran out of juice and ingredients for sandwiches. She grabbed a marker and wrote on a notepad stuck to the fridge.

_ -laundry _

_ -food _

_ -meat for hf _

_ -dishes _

Elektra stepped back and glanced around. She quickly turned back at the notepad.

_ -laundry (sheets too) _

Elektra haphazardly dragged all the sheets from her bed, knocking down stray objects and denim papers, and put them in a large cloth bag. After that, she quickly took off her clothes and put them in the same laundry bag before stepping into the bathroom. 

Elektra showered the same way as before, taking her time now that she caught more filth during her trip. While she scrubbed her skin and washed her hair just as hard, she only carefully lathered the torso area. She flinched every time she had to do it. Once she was finished, she exited the shower and quickly wrapped her towel around herself. Continuing the routine of makeup application, hair brushing, and mouth rinsing, Elektra felt moderately refreshed enough to start what was left of the day.

Elektra stepped back into her room and reached down to the pile of “clean” clothes. Most of the outfit choices were identical, but she decided to reach down for a pair of gray sweatpants instead of her red jeans. She quickly put on a new tank top and slipped the sweatpants off. She let out a hum, then turned back to the laundry bag and the to-do list she had. Elektra reached into her sweatpants’ pockets to see if she had enough guitar picks left to trade.

She picked up her bag, the list, and soon she was out the door. She quickly climbed down the ladder while carrying everything in one hand. Elektra could smell hot dogs in the air and rock music playing around her. The neighborhood had been enjoying their noon, cooking lunch and playing with leisure. Rather than joining in on the neighborhood’s small party, Elektra continued to walk ahead. She ignored the trolls around her and dodged the kids that ran across her path. Ignoring the curious, then disinterested looks from their parents, she went on her way downtown.

Everything in Volcano Rock City revolved around the volcano in some way. Between the molten rocky dunes, the downtown area had streets lined with crooked lamp posts and speaker architecture devoted to dining, cleaning, and many other mundane necessities. Passing by a carelessly toppled sculpture of a previous ruler, Elektra tried to jog her way through the “Main Street” on her way to the laundromat, which held a neon sign containing a symbol of a flat iron followed by the word ‘maiden.’

Entering the doors of the laundromat, Elektra found rows of amp-like washing machines and dryers. She found that a few of the trolls waiting for their laundry were stuck in their underwear or forced to wear a bathrobe. One troll sat in a chair with nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist, avoiding everyone else’s gaze. Elektra turned to the clerk, lounging with her eyes glued to a magazine. Elektra reached into her pocket, and the clerk started talking monotonously without taking her eyes off the magazine.

“Washing is one pick, drying is two, ironing is three.” She slid out a piece of paper listing the names of the clients, which resembled rock autographs.

Without missing a beat, Elektra took out two picks and signed her name. She could’ve sworn she saw the clerk start to grin when she looked at the paper. Elektra made her way to one of the amp-like washing machines, where she emptied her bag into the machine, and poured in the detergent. After turning the machine on, Elektra stepped back and bit her lip. She took out the to-do list, then looked back at the machine. 

“I got time,” she mumbled, making her way back to the door. Just as she was about to open it, one of the machines ‘dinged.’ The troll with the small towel stood up, causing the towel to drop to his ankles. Elektra opened the door and stepped out before she could witness the chaos.

Escaping the jeering hollers coming from the laundromat, Elektra headed down to the next location. She stared at all the neon lights. A lot of the lights held themselves up with loose wiring, and they hadn’t bothered to fix the malfunctions and blinking. Staring disappointed, she passed by an “alleyway” where one troll lounged to smoke. Elektra’s nose scrunched up at the smoke’s scent and hissed in disgust.

Suddenly, Elektra sprang up. “Cheetah!” She whispered. With a sprint, she ran past the alley, startling the smoking troll. Elektra abruptly ran out of Main Street and right towards the direction of the volcano, muttering to herself on how she forgot to check. By the time she finally got to the garage, she already fell out of breath. Panting, she peered down at the vast rows of bug bikes and anglerbuses peacefully asleep, “mechanics” wandering around performing maintenance on them.

Elektra leaned in and squinted. There, on the far end where more heavy maintenance was performed on the living vehicles, was Cheetah wearing a large ice pack above its head and a thermometer in its mouth. The bike still let out a few coughs while a mechanic vet looked after the creature. Elektra bit her lip.

“Cheetah, I’m sorry,” she whispered out, “I hope you feel better tomorrow, ‘cuz we got something important coming up.” Elektra looked down. “But it’s okay if you can’t. Just rest.” She sighed. 

Just as she turned around, she jumped in shock.

“Hey! Uh… hey!” 

Elektra blinked. In front of her, a green-skinned teenager wearing a hooded denim jacket and a small dark mullet stood in awe, grinning at her.

Elektra darted her eyes around before replying. “Hi…?”

The teen let out a somewhat nervous chuckle. “Are you Elektra? I didn’t expect to see you! I was just gonna rehearse with my friends today,” he rambled. He patted his hands against his jeans as if to clean dust, then offered a handshake. “I’m Stone, I lead the Garage Kids.”

After a pause, Elektra reluctantly returned the handshake. She found herself slightly rattled by the teen’s eager shake. She took a step back when he let go, and cracked a polite smirk. “Well, I was just checking up on my bike. I woke up late and I’m,” she shrugged, “busy.”

Stone nodded excitedly. “Cool.” The 17-year-old acted somewhat fidgety, shooting her a smile while clasping his hands together. Elektra nodded politely, and began to try to walk past him, but he piped up. “I like how you play! On the keyboard!”

“Oh, really?” Elektra replied, somewhat half-heartedly. “Thanks.” She shot Stone a quick thumbs up and once again tried to walk off.

“You have a really cool unique sound!” 

Elektra paused, and looked over her shoulder. “A ‘unique’ sound?” she asked in interest.

Stone bit his lip, suddenly nervous. “I-I mean, the special effects you use and how you play them! They’re so gnarly! You don’t hear that stuff in most rock songs ‘cuz they gotta use the guitar a lot, and you make it sound awesome and electric!” he took a breath, “We want our band to do something like that!”

Elektra stood there amazed. She remained silent for a few moments. “Oh,” she uttered, almost bashfully. “I don’t… hear what other rock trolls think about my playing, specifically, that often.”

“Yeah!” Stone nodded. “It’s just that we’ve been having trouble finding our sound…” he began to sound more unsure. “We’ve been trying everything: punk, alternative, progressive, nu metal, but we can’t find our vibe!” He sighed, then twiddled his fingers. “I think… we were hoping you could help us.”

Elektra raised an uncertain eyebrow, processing what the teenager was asking of her. Out of the corner of her vision, she spotted a couple more trolls entering the garage. Two teenage trolls dressed similarly to Stone approached Elektra with the same starstruck expression as him.

“Hey guys!” Stone greeted his band mates, then turned back to Elektra. “So… we’re wondering if you had any… tips, or advice, on how you do your style, so maybe we can try to find inspiration for our own? Ah-” he threw his hands in front of him. “No pressure though!” he blurted out.

Elektra shot a confused, lost frown at the young trio. The dark blue girl with multiple piercings in her ears picked up Elektra’s discomfort, and tilted her own head. The red boy with one zit next to his nose turned towards Stone. Elektra bit her lip and took a breath.

“Um…” Elektra stammered a little. “I’m glad you guys like my music! I’m really flattered that you wanna learn from me! It’s just…” Elektra explained, “I’m a little busy right now a-and I got a lot of other stuff planned. I don’t have the time!”

Stone’s hopeful, nervous smile dropped. “Oh,” he moaned, trying not to sound too disappointed.

Elektra cringed, feeling the two other teens’ eyes on her. “Maybe…” she reassured, “another time?” Elektra looked away.

Stone nodded calmly. “Okay. Sorry for interrupting you,” he said in a quiet, unassuming voice. His friend silently tapped his shoulder, while the girl turned to Elektra curiously, as if to ask what was so important that she couldn’t stick around. 

Feeling herself stiffen, Elektra tried to say something, but instead turned around and walked away from the trio. She turned back to see the teenagers make their way inside the garage to practice more. Stone still looked disappointed.

“Another time… watch me just totally forget,” she grumbled to herself, and sighed. “Oh, what am I doing…” she reached into her pocket and took out her list yet again. “Just the groceries and the meat. Easy,” she reassured herself once she started sprinting back to the direction of Main Street. 

Elektra wasted no time heading back downtown, even throwing some rock trolls off-balance in her careless sprint. She passed by more broken neon signs until she finally reached the grocery store. She panted in exhaustion some more, before wiping her brow and calmly entering the doors.

She nearly kicked a hastily-put wet floor sign. An electric fan was placed to dry the soda spilled into the floor, and Elektra got some of it on her foot. She briefly scowled, wiping her wet foot against the floor. Around her, employees were stacking up soda, juice, and bags and bags of nacho cheese snacks throughout the aisles. Elektra headed to the section of breads, cheeses, and processed meats.

Elektra scanned for the available ingredients and didn’t pay much attention to her surroundings outside of the flickering lights, until she heard a can of spray cheese fall to the floor. 

“Oops.” Elektra turned towards the voice, and raised a brow at the troll that picked up the can, tossing it at a cart full of cans.

“Carol?” Elektra called out in surprise. “I thought you were quitting,” she stated bluntly.

Carol turned to Elektra apathetically, then back at the cart full of cheese spray cans. “… Well,” she uttered, moving to push the cart away. “Who knows. Maybe I’ll quit when Queen Barb decides to make that girl group like in college.”

Elektra shrugged. “Well, that’s when she got crowned,” she commented. “So she got too busy.”

Carol let out a hushed “hmph,” before moving to push the cart away. Carol paused in her tracks. “Hey,”

Elektra tilted her head.

Carol showed the front of her body to Elektra. “You told me this shirt was cool, so…” she cracked the tiniest of smiles, “thanks.”

Elektra blinked and widened her eyes. “Oh!” She flashed some horns at Carol. “You’re welcome!”

Carol turned back around and pushed the cart away. “Sid likes the headband too,” she added. 

Elektra nodded and turned back at browsing the other cheeses, sporting a prideful smirk on her face. Her smirk remained as she got around to take every food ingredient in each arm and headed right to the checkout. With a sleight of hand, she caught a bag of chips that threatened to fall off a stack of groceries from a different cart, but she kept walking ahead with the same smirk and didn’t notice a scrawny, beanie-wearing troll turn to look at whoever helped him.

Soon enough, she exited out of the store with grocery bags on hand, looking pleased with herself. She looked down at the paper, nodding in satisfaction at seeing how she had only one stop remaining. She began to trot a little more to the further end of Main Street, where the urban atmosphere began to dwindle. She once again looked at the malfunctioning neon lights with dismay as she ran past the dry, spray-painted water fountain at the town square.

Elektra made her way towards a butchery connected to a diner located near one slaughterhouse, the closest meat-making area in Volcano Rock City outside of the other farms. She passed by an electrified corral of cow-like creatures with skull-like patterns on their faces, cynically waiting to be slaughtered and their hides used afterwards. Elektra blinked once, then scoffed at the prohibition sign depicting an angry tynx eating one of the cows. She entered the doors to the diner, “Stay Hungry,” with a stylized neon sign of a rock troll savagely eating a piece of meat from his hand.

Elektra entered the doors of the diner to be greeted with more rock music from a large, sprawling jukebox that covered half the restaurant. Decorations and posters were sewn across the walls, and meat hung from hooks right behind the counter. Customers treated themselves to a variety of meats, alongside other greasy and deep-fried dishes. Sid Fret sat in one of the tables, helping himself to a burger and some onion rings.

Elektra walked past a wet floor sign on her way to the counter, where one of the butchers was waiting. The lardy rock troll with a stained apron and an underbite gave out a nod when she got closer.

“You need meat?” He asked casually with a guttural voice and a smirk.

She stood in front of the counter. “Yeah, it’s all gone,” she responded dryly.

The butcher chuckled. “Your pet ate it all, didn’t it?” he nodded again, “ah, it happens. Wait here, I got some.” He turned around to go fetch for a full bag of meat strips from the kitchen. Elektra leaned against the counter, looking down at her to-do list once again, and then crossed her arms. Most of the afternoon had been a blur.

Elektra heard the sound of a door being opened, and looked up expecting the delivery. Her blood ran cold.

She saw him before he did. When she quickly moved away from the counter in shock, the pale blue rock troll stared at the ground bitterly. He took off his apron to let his tattered sweater and scarf come into view, and wiped some sweat from his brow with the back of a hand that held a cutting knife. Elektra kept backing off while the pale guy with slicked-back blue hair walked into a secluded corner of the diner, and lounged disinterestedly.

Elektra furrowed a scornful brow, gripping the bag in her hand tightly. Her heart beat quickly. Her breath hitched in her throat and she pressed her lips together. She shook her head and tried to look at the kitchen doors, but her eyes betrayed her. She darted her eyes around, and her scowl deepened when she saw him picking his teeth with the pointy end of the knife.

“Why-” she gritted her teeth and marched over to the guy’s location. Sid quirked a brow seeing Elektra walk by angrily. “Hey!” She called out. 

The guy paused. He slowly turned towards Elektra, the tip of the knife still between his teeth, and gave Elektra and icy, bitter glare.

“I hope you’re not using that same knife to cut our  _ food _ that we  _ eat, Echo _ !” she snarked loudly. “You even wash that at all?” 

Echo’s glare deepened. He narrowed his eyes and pointed his knife accusingly at Elektra. “How about  _ you  _ stop wasting our meat on that thing you call a pet?” he spat.

Elektra shut her eyes for a moment and flared her nostrils. “Is that a problem? You’re the only one mad about it. There isn’t a shortage,” she continued to snark, “don’t act like that’s important to you,” her wavering voice betrayed her consciousness.

Echo lowered the knife, then chuckled bitterly. “And what’ve you been doing?” he questioned, starting to step closer. “What’s important to you? I don’t see you doin’ any work.” He shrugged smugly, now a foot away from Elektra. “I’m doin’ honest work here, the jobs that are “uncool.” You get to work for Queen Barb, but then you sleep all day. Nothing in this kingdom matters to you.”

Elektra’s hands shook, and her breathing quickened with each word coming out of Echo’s mouth. She arched her back and pointed at him. “You don’t know anything about me!” Her voice shook. “You don’t know what’s been happening with me! You’re still just mad about the audition all this time! That didn’t give you the  _ right _ to hit Hot Fuzz and almost get everyone killed!” Elektra panted in rage. “So don’t act like you care, you don’t care about who you goddamn hurt!”

All the other customers and employees stared at the two enraged rock trolls. Where they’d normally expect a run-of-the-mill brawl had it been just any pair of rock trolls, they could only stare in worry at seeing Elektra get involved. Sid slowly set down the burger he was eating, looking far more focused than he normally was.

Echo only glared and glared. Elektra shut her eyes tightly, letting out a choked breath. She heard a voice behind her.

“Hey, uh,” the butcher called out awkwardly from the counter. Elektra turned her head around. “The meat’s here… you should come over and get it.”

The meaning was clear. She caught Echo still glaring at her from the side, then she sighed. “Alright,” she said, turning around and beginning to make her way over to the counter. She stared blankly ahead, determined to complete the task and just get out of there.

Without provocation, Echo lunged forward and shoved Elektra’s back hard. Elektra gasped, and she had just enough time to hear the customers exclaim “woah!” before her body came down on top of another wet floor sign. 

Her torso took the brunt of the hit, and a sharp, stinging pain coursed through the right side of her stomach and rib cage. She let out a ragged cry, followed by weakened, pained grunts. She crumpled to the floor, next to her fallen groceries. Elektra curled up her body, and her hands desperately held on to where she was hurt, whimpering from the all-too familiar pain. The whimpers turned into wheezes as she tried to ease the terrible sensation. Her vision blurred, but she could make out some clamors, followed by a familiar voice.

“See? You’re weak for a rock troll.”

Elektra did not have the strength to attack Echo then and there, so she hissed loudly instead. She heard more footsteps, and tried to lift her head. Twisting her body to look proved difficult, but she could make out the butcher angrily storming over to where she assumed Echo was standing. Then, Sid Fret blocked her view and tried to reach down to her.

“I’m callin’ the queen.”

Before he could touch her, Elektra twisted her body and put her shaking arms firmly to the ground. “Get up… get up—” she grunted to herself as she lifted her pained body, causing Sid to hesitate. Elektra panted, finally getting to her knees, before quickly getting to her feet. She hunched over for a moment, still holding to the side of her torso, and sprinted to the restroom just as Sid pulled out a walkie-talkie device.

Inside, Elektra whimpered more. She leaned into the sink, looking like she was about to throw up. She lifted her head towards the mirror, finding herself pale and sweaty with her hair more disheveled. She moved her shaky hands from her torso and she held her breath. Elektra lifted up her tank top with her right hand and her left gripped the side of the sink. She exposed her torso and looked down at the large, clawed scars from chest to stomach. She breathed heavily, and stared in fear at her own body. Her left hand shakily went to the scar. Elektra bit her lip as her hand pressed down. She hissed.

She felt a terrible chill run down her whole body. Taking a large breath and closing her eyes, she lifted her shirt back down. When she opened her eyes, her vision began to go blurry again. She could hear shouts coming from outside, and her heart jumped up. Without thinking, Elektra stepped into a stall and locked the door. 

She felt her throat tighten, and she finally collapsed in the toilet seat. She drew in ragged breaths, glassy eyes staring at nothing. She tried to choke down her incoming breakdown, but she felt a tear roll down her cheek the moment she closed her eyes. She tried to fight away the loud, broken gasps. Elektra heard rancorous screaming. It distracted her only for a moment. Blinking slowly, she swallowed the lump in her throat, then leaned against the stall. She began to sniffle, with the walls in the stall her only connection to the real world.

She spent some time sobbing gently, and didn’t hear the door to the restroom open for a moment. Her soft weeping stopped.

“Elektra?” Barb called out in the restroom. Elektra’s heart jumped up again. “I got here as FAST as possible, alright?”

Elektra let out a pained mutter, and that immediately sent footsteps running towards the stall Elektra was in. She pulled herself out of the stall wall, and saw Barb’s shadow from under the door. An uncomfortable silence loomed between them.

Elektra could her sigh. “They told me you were here.” She paused. “Are-are you…? Do you need help?”

Elektra sniffled once, which caused Barb to jolt against the stall door.

“Hey! You want me to help you?” she asked again in a more urgent tone.

“Barb it’s…” Elektra answered with a wavering voice. Barb went silent. Elektra hugged her arms. “Where’s my groceries?” she uttered softly.

Barb took a few moments to respond. “They’re…” her voice went quieter. “Do you want me to go get them?”

Again, Elektra didn’t respond. 

She could hear Barb muttering. “They told me what happened.”

Elektra’s heart spiked up. She let out another ragged gasp.

“It’s okay,” Barb tried to reassure calmly. “Echo shouldn’t have done that.”

“But I talked to him,” Elektra confessed.

Barb scoffed. “So? He’s the one who got physical. They just fired him on the spot too,” she added casually.

Elektra jumped up from her toilet seat. “What?!” she protested. “Don’t— he’s gonna blame ME for that now!”

“Wh-” Barb stammered. “Well, he’s gotta suck it up, then!” she proclaimed. “That asshole pushed YOU!”

“But what kind of rock troll  _ cries _ about falling down?” Elektra blurted out. Barb didn’t respond. Elektra’s voice cracked as she continued. “I’m not strong.” She whimpered softly. “I’m scared of monsters. I can’t form… connections with people. My gut doesn’t stop hurting.” She sighed. “I still feel so empty. The… fire’s gone.”

Silence lingered between the two trolls separated by the stall door. Elektra let out soft, ragged breaths, and wiped away the remaining tears from her eyes. She stared down bitterly at the floor. 

Barb gently placed a hand against the stall. “Do you wanna go home?”

Again, silence. Elektra breathed away what remained of her weeps and sighed. “I-I think.”

“Okay.” Barb’s feet stepped back from the stall door. Elektra reached out and unlocked it, slowly pushing it open. As she gently exited the stall, Elektra tried to avoid looking at Barb in the eye, not wanting to reveal her flushed face. She kept her eyes on the floor, until Barb tapped her shoulder.

Looking up, Elektra saw that Barb held two bags in one hand, while giving Elektra the most kind and sympathetic face she could. Through half-lidded, tired eyes, Elektra noticed Barb biting her lip, as if the queen had run out of advice. Barb’s eyes darted back towards her.

“Okay, Uh…” Barb tried to say with levity, “So I’m gonna help you out with what’s left of your agenda, get some more food, and you can go rest up and forget this whole thing ever happened.”

“At this rate, it might,” Elektra replied in a sour tone. “I think I forgot who I ran into today.”

“It’s alright!” Barb tried to reassure in an over-enthusiastic tone. “You, uh, dropped your to-do list, here,” she read the list out loud, before suddenly stopping. “Elektra?”

Barb’s baffled tone finally brought Elektra out of her spell, and she looked at her confused as well. “What…?”

“Where’s your laundry?”

Next thing anyone knew, a loud expletive had burst out of the restroom.

* * *

Elektra and Barb sat quietly in the chairs of the laundromat as Elektra’s clothes were put to dry. With Barb by Elektra’s side, the Queen was able to pull strings to get the best dryer. While Barb sat splayed on one of the chairs staring forward, Elektra was leaning forwards with her hands rubbing against her face. She groaned in exhaustion.

“I can’t even do this,” Elektra mumbled in disgust. “Thought I’d play my cards right and I wouldn’t have to sit here.” She leaned backwards against the seat and stared at the ceiling. 

Barb hummed in response. She tilted her head, changing positions and continuing to hum restlessly.

This got Elektra to turn to her curiously. “What?”

“I’m worried about what you said about your fire,” Barb admitted bluntly, and shook her head. “I dunno what to say, this sounds more serious than we thought.” She bit her lip again. “If you think you’re in this bad of a shape,” she hesitated at seeing Elektra’s lost face, “should you really go out there tomorrow?”

Elektra reeled back. “ _ What? _ ”

Barb attempted to put her hands up defensively. “Look, I’m just not… sure you should go out alone again,” she explained. “So I changed my mind. I don’t think I want you out there anymore.” 

Elektra glowered in disbelief. “But… I need this, Barb!” she asserted firmly. “I have to keep going! Listen, I can still play—”

“I’m not worried about that,” Barb insisted. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you like last time. You probably shouldn’t go out until you feel better.”

Elektra darted her eyes against the floor and gestured towards her chest. “But… this  _ is _ gonna make me feel better!”

Barb leaned back to her seat and sighed in frustration. “If you’re really determined about this for some reason, then…” she shook her head, “maybe I’ll let you go when your bike is better.” Elektra smiled, but Barb continued, “maybe I should send someone to help you—”

“No!” Elektra blurted out loud enough for some rock trolls in the laundromat to turn in their direction. Barb was taken aback. Elektra groaned. “Let me do this on my own.”

Barb squinted suspiciously. “Dude, I know you have like, trust problems,” she winced again at the bluntness of her statement, “but what’s so important that you don’t even want someone coming with you and watch your back?”

Slowly, but surely, Elektra felt cornered. She tried to hide her nervousness while Barb waited for an answer. Before Elektra could come up with a good excuse, a loud ‘ding’ was heard.

Elektra turned and scrunched up in confusion. “It’s done?”

Barb suddenly grinned. “Ha! Yeah, it worked!” Barb boasted. “Wow, good thing it didn’t blow up this time, heh!” She immediately moved to help Elektra recover her finished laundry. “Now we can put that design for the other dryers!”

Elektra eagerly went along with the task, mentally sighing in relief.

Soon afterwards, the rock duo carried their haul all the way to Elektra’s neighborhood. Some of the residents were immediately star-struck at their queen carrying a bag full of someone else’s laundry. Barb and Elektra exchanged some whispers, commenting about the neighbors just standing around and staring at the high-profile trolls having to complete such mundane tasks. The two then struggled as they tried to get the laundry bag up the ladder to Elektra’s home.

“Barb don’t fall—” Elektra grunted, trying to pull one end of the bag towards herself at the door of the apartment.

Barb let out an ‘oof,’ pushing the other end of the bag while recklessly standing on the ladder legs on her toes. “Ah- it’s fine—” she claimed, “but are you sure you don’t need a ground floor?”

Elektra dragged the bag further into her apartment, out of breath. “I like it— up here—” she said between breaths.

Barb panted when she got to the top. “Man…” she remarked, “I can’t believe you’re really doing this alone.”

With one last heave, Elektra got her laundry fully inside her apartment. “Phew!” She looked at the bag, dusted off her hands, and shrugged. “Well, I manage. I can improvise, and I can deal with it.”

Elektra turned to see Barb looking at her sternly.

“Okay,” Barb said quietly. 

Elektra blinked. “H-huh?” 

“I said fine,” Barb raised her voice only slightly, “If your bike feels better, you can go out by yourself tomorrow.” Her tone was of resignation and deep-rooted worry.

Elektra furrowed her brow, but then nodded. “Thank you,” she said softly.

Barb held up a finger. “But you be back by sundown or I’m sending the whole angler ambulance.”

Elektra cracked a smirk and scoffed playfully. “You’re really worried for me.”

Barb averted eye contact, but she smirked back. “Guess I am.” She finally turned to climb down the stairs. 

“I’ll be back!” Elektra clarified.

“You better!” Barb shouted back, and soon ran off.

Elektra watched Barb leave the neighborhood, and felt a subtle cold pit in her stomach. After glancing down briefly, Elektra went ahead and closed the door. She took a deep breath, trying to take her mind off her nagging cold pit, but she sauntered off towards the bed without touching any of the bags. She stared blankly at the floor, walking past her synth, and tried to collapse herself on the bed.

Her mood was interrupted by movement under the sheets.

“Hot Fuzz!” She shouted. The feline poked his head from under the sheets, looking like an infant doing so. Elektra laughed at the sight, and reached down to pet his face. Hot Fuzz closed his eyes when Elektra started scratching his cheeks.

“Ha, ha, ok!” Elektra exclaimed, then cleared her throat. “Okay, kitty, get out.” She gently got the covers off the tynx, just as he started sniffing for the newly-acquired meat. “No, no,” she scolded, “not yet. You ate it all last night. You gotta wait now.” The tynx scrunched his nose and let out a somewhat disappointed chuff, before turning back to the window and leaping off.

Elektra kept a smile on her face, and she didn’t need to drop down on the bed to skulk like she’d planned. She turned her head towards the synthesizer in thought. Within a minute, Elektra was sitting on the bed, her synthesizer on her lap, adjusting the settings on the dial and other buttons. She began to play.

Elektra played a familiar, wistful, melancholic melody. Her mind was instantly in a calmer, happier place. She knew this song. Though not as epic as the songs Queen Barb and her father leaned towards in both of their regimes, Elektra remembered that sweet opening synth from her research. 

Just as the melody began to get complex and slightly more intense, Elektra realized the soft drum and guitars weren’t there to continue the song as normal. Not wanting to end there, she decided to improvise. Elektra moved her fingers more rapidly, adding more notes within the tempo, and created a fast electric melody. She adjusted the sliders and played the new song with some more sound effects. Throughout her burst of inspiration, Elektra enjoyed herself.

However, her train of thought teetered to a stop, and couldn’t finish the song by herself. But even as she was forced to stop, and her hands shook from the sudden effort, Elektra wore the brightest smile she’d had all day. She looked out the window, with great hope written on her face.

* * *

Elektra had been on Trollex’s mind all day.

While enthusiastic in the continuing celebrations in the techno kingdom, he spent the whole time contemplating. He looked at all the gear and critters in his room: his own synthesizer, launchpad, underwater laptop, drum machine… and got thinking. He sat in his huge bed, fidgeting with Beat Drop on his hands.

“Dunno what I’m gonna do about Elektra, man,” Trollex vented. “I made my choice, and I want her to understand that. ‘Cuz, well, my people come first and I want them to be safe. I just turned king and I can’t let ‘em down. But I mean—” He gestured widely with his hands, letting go of Beat. “I don’t have a pizazz! I promised a party! I gotta make this good, I wanna get her to really like us and… maybe get things to change.” He hugged his arms. “Yeah, I’m… a little nervous, but you never know what you can do if you don’t take the plunge.” He looked off to the side. “Mom warned about the unexpected.”

Meanwhile, the little button fish swam close to Trollex. “We could try going simple,” he suggested. “What if we just give her the basics in techno? We could go to the library and pick out what we want.”

Trollex raised his earfins, and grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used:
> 
> We Ride Tonight by The Sherbs... which devolves into Contact by Daft Punk

**Author's Note:**

> Songs used:
> 
> Baba O’ Reily, by The Who  
> Let It Rock, by Bon Jovi


End file.
